Oroco names Richard Lock as CEO, director
Oroco Resources Corp. [OCO-TSXV, ORRCF-OTC] has named Richard Lock as the company’s new CEO. Effective April 1, 2022, he will replace Craig Dalziel, who assumes the role of Executive Chairman.
Lock will also be joining the company’s board of directors.
Oroco recently announced plans to raise $13.6 million from a private placement financing that will be used to fund continued exploration at its Santo Tomas copper-molybdenum-gold project in northwest Mexico.
Oroco says the Santo Tomas hosts a significant copper porphyry deposit defined by prior exploration spanning the period between 1968 to 1994. During that time, the property was tested by over 100 diamond and reverse circulation drill holes, covering 30,000 metres.
Based on data generated by these drill programs, a historical prefeasibility study was completed by Bateman Engineering in 1994.
“To secure a person with Mr. Lock’s experience, leadership and technical abilities – having led some of the largest mining projects in the world – speaks to the tremendous potential of the Santo Tomas Project,” Dalziel said.
A mining engineer, Lock has led the construction and development of several large mining projects around the world. He most recently was senior vice-president of PolyMet Mining Corp. [POM-TSX, PLM NYSE American] and Project Director for its NorthMet Project in Minnesota.
He previously held executive and project director roles at Arizona Mining Inc.’s Hermosa project, a lead-zinc silver mine in southern Arizona.
Oroco has granted incentive stock options to Lock, enabling him to purchase 600,000 shares at an exercise price of $2.05 per share. These are in addition to 300,000 share purchase options granted to Lock when he became a consultant to the company.
The options are exercisable for a three-year term, expiring on March 29, 2025, with 20% vesting immediately and a further 20% vesting every three months over the next year.
On March 29, 2022, Oroco shares eased 1.7% or $0.03 to $1.76, and now trade in a 52-week range of $3.66 and $1.68
Oroco holds a net 73.2 interest in the collective 1,172.9-hectare Core Concession of the Santo Tomas project, which is located within 160 kilometres of the Pacific deep-water port at Topolobampo
The company also holds a 77.5% interest in 7,807.9 hectares of mineral concessions surrounding and adjacent to the Core Concessions (for a total project area of 22,192 acres).
The project is situated within the Santo Tomas District, which extends from Santo Tomas up to the Jinchuan Group’s Bahuerachi project, approximately 14 kilometres to the north east.
A pre-feasibility study completed by Bateman Engineering Inc. completed in 1994 contemplated mining rates of up to 120,000 tonnes per day, producing up to 300 million pounds of copper annually, plus quantities of gold and silver, in a high-quality concentrate.
Conventional open pit mining, hauling and ore benefication technology are addressed in the study, with no design risks identified or implied.
However, the company considers these historical studies and associated mineral resource estimates to be conceptual in nature only, until confirmed by current technical programs.