In this Open Briefing^®, Managing Director Mark Strizek discusses:

• $5m capital raising
• Acceleration of West African exploration
• Results from auger drilling
• Vital’s 12,500m drilling program

Record of interview:

Openbriefing.com:
Vital Metals completed a $5m capital raising – what will the raising allow the company to do?

MD Mark Strizek:
The placement allows us to aggressively expand our gold exploration activities in Burkina Faso, where we have three 100%-owned exploration permits. The raising was heavily oversubscribed, which shows the belief in our strategy. The money will enable us to drill test the bank of high-grade gold targets we’ve identified on the Kollo trend – we’ve now got, for the first time, enough funds to continue drilling these targets well into 2018, as we aim to make that discovery.

The placement also allowed us to restructure our debt facility with Macquarie Bank and repay $1 million to the bank. Through the placement, Macquarie converted $600,000 of debt to equity in the company which is a great show of confidence. This has reduced our debt with Macquarie to $1.4 million and allowed us to defer repayment to December 2018, which will allow us more time to concentrate on our exploration goals.

Openbriefing.com:
What are the Company’s goals from here?

MD Mark Strizek:
It’s very simple; our aim is to significantly ramp up exploration in Burkina Faso, in a region which continues to be prolific for its gold discoveries. We want to discover the next large deposit. Our landholdings is in the Markoye Fault Corridor, very close to the tenements of West African Resources’ Sanbrado Project, which currently has 2.1 million ounces of gold resources and is showing potential as an underground project with an extensive 2.5km gold system at its M5 prospect.
 

To achieve this goal we have planned an aggressive drilling program which will build on the excellent grades from previous drilling at Kollo, where we will be testing for depth and strike extensions of high grade mineralization.

In parallel, we will also be continuing the regional auger drilling campaign to delineate further gold mineralization from over 40km of largely untested structural corridors, with the goal of providing a steady flow of drill-ready targets. As each set of results comes through, the potential of Vital’s permits continues to grow.

Openbriefing.com:
Can you provide details of your planned exploration in Burkina Faso?

MD Mark Strizek:
We have started drilling at Kollo South where we are aiming to follow up on previous high grade gold results.  The program will involve drilling along strike and at depth to test for extensions of high grade mineralization. 

Additionally, we have secured a second track-mounted RC drill rig to drill test at Kollo Hill, a 1km strike length on the Kollo shear zone between Kollo Central and Kollo North that has never been tested. This rig is in Ghana and will be arriving on site in May when it has cleared customs, and we are very excited to be targeting untested ground and discovering its potential.
 

We are also continuing our regional auger drilling campaign as we have received some exceptional high grades from auger samples that are a solid vindication of the Company’s exploration model. The targets immediately south of the Kollo gold project were inferred from our exploration model as there is no outcrop in the area as it was overlain by transported cover at some time.

The auger results were similar in tenor to those at the Kollo South discovery, and we subsequently accelerated our auger geochemical program with three auger rigs working on infill drilling and regional testing  over 40km of largely untested structural corridors.

We expect first results from the drilling program towards the end of May with further results from the ongoing auger program as well.

Openbriefing.com:
What are your plans from there?

MD Mark Strizek:
We will assess results from the program to determine the best way to move forward with what we expect to be a busy and productive year of exploration in Burkina Faso, and we will keep the market informed of all the results and progress from this work.

Openbriefing.com:
Thank you Mark.

For more information about Vital Metals, visit www.vitalmetals.com.au

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