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Resources -
Precious and Base Mineral Exploration
About: Williams Creek Explorations Limited
(WCX-TSXV)
Suite 600, 666 Burrard Street
Vancouver BC Canada V6C 2X8
Phone: 604-662-4480
Company
Profile:
Williams Creek Explorations
Limited engages in exploration of precious and base mineral properties in
Canada with a primary focus on exploring gold prospects.
Williams Creek seeks
opportunities to participate broadly in the natural resource sector with an
emphasis on the gold sub-sector through exploration activities,
joint venture and other equity investments, royalty, and finance agreements.
Michael R. Sonnenreich: Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board
Mr. Sonnenreich has vast
experience in the global pharmaceutical industry. He is a graduate of the
University of Wisconsin, the University of Madrid, Spain, and Harvard
University Law School. He is currently Chairman of Kikaku America
International, and Vice Chairman of PharMa International Corporation of
Tokyo. He is a Director of Wi2Wi, Palo Alto, Amorfix Life Sciences, Toronto,
Ltd. and Tyhee Gold Corporation, Vancouver. He is a member of the Board of
Advisors of Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International
Studies and a member of the Board of Overseers of Tufts University Medical
School. Mr. Sonnenreich has in the past been Board member and Trustee of
numerous important companies and universities, such as the ABD American
Capital Market Funds, the Integra Fund, Continental Steel Inc., Scientific
American, Medical Tribune International, Clark University, the Maret School
and has long-term involvements with many nonprofit institutions such as the
Smithsonian Institution, the Washington National Opera (President 1996-98;
2002-2006), Sackler/Freer Galleries of Art (Smithsonian Institution), D.C.
Commission on the Arts and Humanities (Mayoral Appointment as Commissioner,
2008-present), the New England Conservatory of Music, the North Carolina
Museum of Art Foundation, the University of Virginia Art Museum, the Richard
Tucker Music Foundation, and served as President of the National
Coordinating Council on Drug Education. In 2008, he was named Distinguished
Washingtonian by the University Club of Washington, D.C. Mr. Sonnenreich
previously served in government in the Department of Justice and was
appointed Executive Director of the National Commission on Marijuana and
Drug Abuse. He is presently Chairman of the DC Jazz Festival, the city's
largest musical event.
Interview
conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFOinterviews.com, To be
published – March 18, 2011
CEOCFO: Mr.
Sonnereich, what is the general focus of Williams Creek Explorations?
Mr.
Sonnereich:
We decided that we would go into the exploration business differently than
most of the small companies; that is, we would put up our money first, so we
would have the cash available for exploration acquisitions. In this way, we
would do three different things. We would take the existing properties that
we have, which are Crown Grants and commence exploration programs, which we
have already started. Then the second part was to make investments in other
companies that have proven reserves, and we have done that mostly in the
Northwest Territories and British Columbia, although we will be considering
some investments in the United States. Third, we are also looking to finance
companies that have interesting grassroots explorations or already developed
explorations that run short of cash and need to further define their
properties. We will finance those companies and take some equity position in
them as well as the financing. Therefore, we have a three-pronged approach.
As I stated we have at present, a working partnership with another company
for drilling on a diamond property, in which we have a thirty percent
interest up in the Northwest Territories. We have signed hard contracts with
the drilling rigs and we are going to start exploration on our own
properties up in Barkerville, either at the end of April or the beginning of
May. We have also taken positions in several other gold companies.
CEOCFO:
Your background is not resources, why the decision to get involved now?
Mr.
Sonnereich:
No, my background is pharmaceuticals, but what prompted us into gold was a
lot of mistrust of paper currency. We have been buyers of gold and I decided
I would buy into the actual exploration for gold. What is apparent to us is
that the usual amount of gold produced every year has been going down. Also,
taken off the market is the production by Russia and China, which makes gold
even scarcer. When I see demand going up and supply going down, it is a good
business. It also has many similarities to our pharmaceutical business. It
is exploration as opposed to research. A lot of it is hit and miss. Even
though you try to be scientific not everything works. We accept the fact
that, like in the pharmaceutical business, many drugs that start out
promising do not wind up as a finished product, and the same is true of
exploration. There is a time problem in getting permits to build the mine,
environment issues, regulatory issues, all very similar to the timeline in
pharmaceuticals. Therefore, it is something we are quite familiar with and
something that we understand as a business. It struck us that many people in
this business are either focused on the exploration side or on the other
side in that they want to actually run the mines after exploration. We are
more interested in the whole process, and we are familiar with government
regulation.
CEOCFO:
How did you decide what types of properties and where you were going to
look?
Mr.
Sonnereich:
Williams Creek is unique. It is one of the great gold camps of Canada. Most
of it was mined in the 1860s-1870s. It was mined again after WWII and a
little bit in the 1980’s. However, we think it has not been mined to its
full potential. We own Crown Grants. We do not lease, so we own the property
ourselves. That in itself made it an interesting proposition. We feel very
strongly that there is high potential there, and that is why we are
embarking on a very serious drilling program starting at the end of April.
CEOCFO:
What about the distressed companies that you would like to be involved with;
how do you select the criteria, and how do you know you are on the right
track?
Mr.
Sonnereich:
We do not just look at what geologists say. Our investment advisor is Dr.
Hans Black at Interinvest, and he is extremely knowledgeable in this area.
He and I have been friends for many years and we work closely together. We
look at these opportunities as companies, not as gold exploration
activities. Many of these endeavors that we look at are more like an
explorers club rather than a corporation. When we look at properties we look
at not only at their ability to produce gold, but to produce it in a
meaningful way in a location that has a secure government like Canada, the
United States, or Australia, and has an expectation that it can be developed
into a workable mine. Just discovery alone is not important for us. This is
the reason we put the money in first rather than trying to find properties
and then raise money. That is not our interest. Our interest is that if we
see something that looks interesting, and looks promising that we can
develop, then we will invest in it.
CEOCFO:
Has anything surprised you since you started the venture?
Mr.
Sonnereich:
I know very little about the mining itself, so it is a wonderful learning
curve for me and my associates. We learn everyday. The thing that struck me
as interesting is that most of the companies are created by the scientists,
geologists, and the mining engineers. Many of these companies do not
understand corporate governance, the concept of company, or understand fully
how to drill for gold. We are absolute believers that the price of gold is
going to go way up, way beyond what it is now. We feel that this is the
right place to be, the right market, the right commodity. It struck me as a
little bit odd that so much of what was going on in this field is not being
done with a long term business plan, but it is more in like “oh this an
interesting piece of property, we think it has gold in it so let us develop
it”.
CEOCFO:
How are you finding the opportunities; how do you look for them?
Mr.
Sonnereich:
We looked at a lot of the companies. We make investments in companies we
think have good management. If we believe that they have good management and
they know what they are doing and they are not just spending their money,
but actually planning how they move forward, we will invest in them. We will
invest along side of them either as a working partnership or take a
significant share of the equity through private placements. Management to me
is key. We cannot run these operations, we do not know how to run them, and
I am now too old to learn, but if they have good management and we think
that the people are responsible in the way they deal with shareholder money,
then we will invest with them. We screen many of these properties. As I
said, we use our investment advisor Dr. Hans Black at Interinvest and he is
very knowledgeable, as well as the other people on the Board are very
knowledgeable. We are a virtual company in the sense that we do not pay
salaries within the company. We are shareholders and if we gain the
shareholders gain, but we do not take salaries. That is why we are unique.
We posted a profit for the last two quarters and we hope to post a profit
for this coming quarter.
CEOCFO:
Is the investment community paying attention yet?
Mr.
Sonnereich:
I do not know, and I do not worry too much about it. We have a business plan
that we started on May 1st and we will execute it. We have more
money in the till now than when we started and we have been making
investments, so we feel very good about the direction the company is going.
We have no burn rate because our burn has been covered by our profits.
CEOCFO:
What challenges do you see ahead?
Mr.
Sonnereich:
The challenges are not to discover gold, because I think there is a lot of
gold in Canada and a lot of in these properties. The real problem is to take
that next step. Is it a definable field? Is it an economic field? Then the
next question is, what are the regulatory burdens towards getting a mine
functioning? That is the area that we are going into. That is the area that
within a year or so we have to come to grips with, either through the
companies we have invested in or through Williams Creek’s own properties.
That is going to be a learning curve. We understand government, we
understand environmental studies, we understand all of these, but we have to
learn it from the mining perspective and that we will do.
CEOCFO:
In closing, why should potential investors consider Williams Creek
Explorations?
Mr. Sonnereich: We have a three part
program. We have cash in the bank, and we are looking at investing or taking
significant positions in companies that we feel have good reserves that can
go towards building mines and producing income. We are interested in
financing operations as we are doing with our own exploration program. We
are unique in the sense that we are a virtual company. I receive no salary.
I do get my expenses paid, but I do not take a salary and nobody else does.
We feel very strongly that our benefit can only come through the
appreciation of the stock price, so we are very sensitive to shareholder
needs.
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