LSMG Lode Star Mining Inc (PK)

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our unaudited financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Quarterly Report. In addition to historical financial information, the following discussion includes certain forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and our current views with respect to future events and financial performance. Forward-looking statements are often identified by words like: believe, expect, estimate, anticipate, intend, project and similar expressions, or words which, by their nature, refer to future events. You should not place undue certainty on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this report. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States, we do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results

Mineral Property Interest

Further to a Mineral Option Agreement (the “Option Agreement”) dated October 4, 2014, on December 5, 2014, we entered into a subscription agreement (the “Subscription Agreement”) with Lode Star Gold INC., a private Nevada corporation (“LSG”) in which we agreed to issue 35,000,000 shares of our common stock, valued at $230,180, to LSG in exchange for an initial 20% undivided beneficial interest in and to LSG’s Goldfield property (the “Acquisition”), which made LSG our largest and controlling shareholder.

LSG’s Goldfield Bonanza property is comprised of 31 patented mineral claims owned 100% by LSG, located on approximately 460 acres in the district of Goldfield in the state of Nevada (the “Property”). The Property is clear titled, with a 1% Net Smelter Royalty (“NSR”) existing in the favor of the original property owner.

LSG was incorporated in the State of Nevada on March 13, 1998 for the purpose of acquiring exploration stage mineral properties. It currently has one shareholder, Lonnie Humphries, who is the spouse of Mark Walmesley, our President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Walmesley is also the Director of Operations and a director of LSG.

The execution of the Subscription Agreement was one of the closing conditions of the Option Agreement, pursuant to which we acquired the sole and exclusive option to earn up to an 80% undivided interest in and to the Property. To earn the additional 60% interest in the Property, we are required to fund all expenditures on the Property and pay LSG an aggregate of $5 million in cash from the Property’s mineral production proceeds in the form of an NSR. Until we have earned the additional 60% interest, the NSR will be split 79.2% to LSG, 19.8% to us and 1% to the former Property owner.

The Option Agreement can be found as Exhibit 10.1 to our report filed on Form 8-K on October 9, 2014 and is incorporated herein by reference. The Subscription Agreement can be found as Exhibit 10.7 to our report filed on Form 10-K/A on January 11, 2017 and is incorporated by reference.

If we fail to make any cash payments to LSG within one year of October 4, 2014, we are required to pay LSG an additional $100,000, and in any subsequent years in which we fail to complete the payment of the entire $5 million described above, we must make quarterly cash payments to LSG of $25,000 until we have earned the additional 60% interest in the Property.

LSG granted us a series of deferrals of the payments, with the most recent being granted on January 11, 2017. LSG agreed on that date to defer payment of all amounts due in accordance with the Option Agreement until further notice. On January 17, 2017, the Company and LSG agreed that as of January 1, 2017, all outstanding balances shall carry a compound interest rate of 5% per annum. It was further agreed that the ongoing payment deferral shall apply to interest and principal.

LSG acquired the leases to the Property in 1997 and became the registered and beneficial owner of the Property on September 19, 2009. Since the earlier of those dates, it has conducted contract exploration work on the Property but has not determined whether it contains mineral reserves that are economically recoverable. LSG is an exploration stage company and has not generated any revenues since its inception. The Property represents its only material asset.

The Property is located in west-central Nevada, in the Goldfield Mining District at Latitude 37° 42’, and Longitude 117° 14’.  The claims comprising the Property are located in surveyed sections 35 and 36, Township 2 South, Range 42 East, and in sections 1, 2, 11, and 12, Township 3 South, Range 42 East, in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The Property is accessible by traveling approximately one-half mile northeast of the community of Goldfield, along a county-maintained road that originates at U.S. Highway 95, which runs through “downtown” Goldfield. The town of Goldfield, which is the Esmeralda county seat (population 300), is approximately 200 air miles south of Reno and 180 air miles north of Las Vegas. Surface access on the Property is excellent and the relief is low, at an elevation of approximately 6,000 feet.  Vegetation is sparse, consisting largely of sagebrush, rabbitbrush, Joshua trees and grasses. Water, electricity and other sundry needs such as restaurants, lodging, minor medical needs, fire station, and police are within 1 mile of the property.

All properties, claims, buildings, equipment, and supplies are owned by LSG and we have free access to utilize and manage all those items. Operations are managed from a 6,000 sq. ft. office and warehouse facility complete with showers and laundry amenities. Two residential trailer sites are immediately adjacent to this building for crew needs.

The Property has one working shaft, the February Premier, which has access to the 300 ft level, with approximately 1/2 mile of ventilated drift. Underground work has identified 2 high-grade gold-bearing zones which the company plans to further explore. The program that we envision undertaking includes the mining of approximately 10,000 tons of non-NI 43-101 compliant gold mineralization at an approximate grade of 0.9 ounces per ton. The estimated grade is based on historic drilling work done by LSG, for which the 1.5-inch core samples were consumed by assay requirements. In order to provide adequate sample weights to the assaying lab, the entire core was processed for individual samples.

While we have encountered several additional high-grade drill anomalies throughout the property, it is important to note that we have no proven and/or probable reserves at the present time and therefore the program is exploratory in nature. Much of the property remains under-explored and it is our belief that the district’s high-grade, million-ounce ore zones repeat themselves. Further surface and underground exploration work need to be executed.

The Property has two operating water monitoring wells that were mandatory for us to receive a water pollution control permit. Part of the permitting application is for the allowance of the company to store its waste rock underground. The property has no milling onsite and we must rely on a third party to receive our mineralized material and tombstone our tailings.

Amendment to Option Agreement

On October 31, 2019, we entered into an amendment (the “Amendment”) to the Option Agreement with LSG.

Under the Amendment, the exercise of the 60% option was restructured into two separate 30% options, such that we may now earn a 30% interest in the Property (for a total of 50%) (the “Second Option”) by completing the following actions:

Following the exercise of the Second Option, we may earn an additional 30% interest in the Property (for a total of 80%) (the “Third Option”) by completing the following actions:

The primary effect of the Amendment is therefore to increase to the purchase price for the additional 60% interest in the Property from $5 million to $10 million, while at the same time separating it into tranches.

The Amendment also corrects a number of inconsistences in the Option Agreement, updates the defined terms to accommodate the creation of the Second Option and Third Option, and includes our acknowledgements regarding accrued and unpaid penalty payments and amounts owing by us to LSG as of September 30, 2019.

The foregoing description of the Amendment includes a summary of all the material provisions but is qualified in its entirety by reference to the complete text of the Amendment included as Exhibit 10.8 to our report filed on Form 8-K on November 6, 2019 and incorporated herein by reference.

We agreed with LSG that upon the successful completion of a toll milling agreement after permitting is achieved, there will be a basis to form a joint management committee to outline work programs and budgets, as contemplated in the Option Agreement and for us to act as the operator of the Property. To the date of this report LSG has borne all costs in connection with operations on the Property. We expect the first work program, entailing Property-related costs for which we will be responsible, to be approved in 2020.

Milling

On February 17, 2017, we executed an agreement with Scorpio Gold Corporation (Scorpio) for a pilot toll milling test. We completed the first test in May 2017 and both companies have determined that further testing needs to be completed to determine a definitive cost analysis and other operational details. The sample processed was historic material stockpiled on the property surface and therefore of limited metallurgical value, but indicative of material that will be run through the mill. Milling throughput did identify specific equipment configuration details that need to be considered for future runs. Both parties agree that additional milling circuitry is needed for the most optimum gold yield.

On January 22, 2020, we executed a toll milling agreement (the “Agreement”) with Scorpio’s affiliate, Goldwedge LLC. The Agreement will allow for the processing of ore delivered from the Property to the 400 ton per day Goldwedge milling facility located in Manhattan, Nevada.

Based on previous metallurgical testing, our ore requires gravity combined with flotation for optimal recoveries of contained precious metals. The Goldwedge milling circuit is currently configured with a gravity recovery circuit. Under the terms of the Agreement, we will advance funds required for the design, engineering, permitting and modifications to the Goldwedge facility to include the addition of a flotation circuit, supporting reagent tanks/silos, secondary lining of process containment ponds, leak detection and monitoring wells associated with fluid containments.

The Agreement provides for us to recoup the advanced funds through a reduction in toll milling rates until all advanced funds have been repaid. Following repayment, the toll charges will revert to standard rates.

Property - Previous Exploration Work, Mineralization and State of Exploration

The Property is wholly owned by LSG, our largest shareholder, and is clear titled. A 1% net smelter royalty exists in the favor of the original property owner. The property consists of 31 patented claims on approximately 460 acres. LSG, over the past 15 years and continuing, has spent close to $8 million on underground rehab of approximately 1/2 mile of drift at the 300ft sub-surface level. LSG also executed 22 surface core drill holes for a total of 10,400ft and 152 underground core drill holes for a total of 23,000ft.

It is important to note the following sample preparation and quality controls used by LSG and by ICN, a previous operator of the Property:

Lode Star Gold drill hole core sampling and analytical protocol

All drill core samples were prepared and delivered to ALS Minerals in Reno by Tom Temkin, our COO. Individual sampled intervals varied from one to five-foot lengths, based on geologic parameters, and included 100% of core intervals. No core splitting was conducted. No duplicate samples or standards were introduced other than those inserted and utilized by ALS for their internal quality control. Lab preparation of individual samples included crushing and grinding to minus 200 mesh, followed by a 1-ton assay for gold. All samples that initially assayed over 1.0 opt Au were systematically re-assayed.

ICN drill hole core and Rotary RC sampling and analytical protocol

All drill core samples were prepared by ICN personnel and either delivered to the assay lab or were picked up on-site by lab personnel. Rotary RC chip drilling samples were collected on-site and transported to Reno by the respective labs. The labs used included ALS Minerals and American Assay Lab. Core was sawn by ALS Minerals and/or ICN personnel. Individual core sampled intervals varied from one to five-foot lengths, based on geologic parameters, and included one-half of the original core material. Rotary RC samples were taken at five-foot intervals entirely. Quality control for all samples included a protocol of inserting duplicate samples, blanks, and known standards, at repeating intervals to maintain .08% check sampling. Lab preparation of Individual samples included crushing and grinding to minus 200 mesh, followed by a 1-ton assay for gold. All samples that initially assayed over 1.0 opt Au were systematically re-assayed.

Underground work has identified 2 high-grade gold-bearing zones that can support mine development utilizing our current infrastructure. The property is now permitted for production and is mine ready.

Third Party Assay Data Audit

Mine Development Associates (MDA Reno), a highly regarded third party NI 43-101 service provider, has audited our drill hole database and performed a comparative QA/QC check assay analysis on selected drilling and determined no inconsistencies to exist and assays were repeatable.

NI 43-101 Update Status

We filed an independent Technical Report written in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) on our property located in Goldfield, Nevada. Although not required for OTC listing, we had this report prepared under NI 43-101 guidelines to provide a summary of the Goldfield Bonanza Project. This NI 43-101 is required documentation for future possible business transactions and listings on Canadian exchanges. The Technical Report titled “Technical Report on the Goldfield Bonanza Project Esmeralda County Nevada U.S.A.” dated January 15, 2020 has been prepared by Mr. Robert M. Hatch, SME Registered Geologist.

The report is available for review on EDGAR (https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html) and SEDAR (https://www.sedar.com/) under Lode-Star Mining’s issuer profile.

Metallurgy Reports

To date we have had three metallurgy reports prepared. In order they are: Kappes Cassady & Associates located in Reno, NV dated July 10,2006, Newmont Mining located in Carlin, NV dated May 27, 2010, and McClelland Laboratories, Inc. located in Reno, NV dated January 26, 2016. Indications are that we can expect at a minimum, an 85% AU recovery from floatation milling. Better recovery is achieved by Agitated Leach processing, which show results closer to +90%. The best recovery results, +95%, due to the high sulphide content of the ore, is achieved through roasting. An additional lab report was generated by Kappes Cassady & Associates to determine ore compatibility for processing at Scorpio Gold’s milling circuit.

Key Developments

On November 20, 2018 we were issued Water Pollution Control Permit NEV2017109 from the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP) regarding production at the property. This Permit authorizes the construction, operation, and closure of approved mining facilities in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The Permit is effective for 5 years until November 20, 2023 and authorizes the processing of 10,000 tons of ore per year from Lode-Star’s underground operations. 100% of the permitting cost has been borne by our largest shareholder, Lode Star Gold INC.

Unique to our production permit, the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection has endorsed the Company’s intensions to temporarily store waste rock underground. Once stockpiled, waste rock is brought to the surface to backfill and remediate our historic abandoned mine shafts. This will save us the significant time and expense of having to permit and build a surface waste containment facility.

We have received our ATF blasting permit. Long term road closures on the Property to curtail public access and ensure safety are underway.

Mine Design and Utilization of Equipment

The mine will be designed through the interpretation of detailed drilling data in cross sections and the use of conventional software. Currently there are two areas, the Red Hills and the Church, containing high-grade gold mineralization identified that are to be incorporated into the mine plan. Currently the mine is equipped with a 1-yard scoop-tram loader. Mining activity will be conducted with the utilization of this loader, pneumatic equipment and by an existing conveyor system providing for the transfer of ore to the surface.

Production Mining Method

We intend to maximize profitability through a disciplined approach involving the separation of high-grade gold ore from waste rock during the mining stage, thus avoiding the additional cost of pre-shipment concentration. In order to maintain the highest grade of ore production the blast holes will be sampled during drilling, then assayed to determine ore boundaries prior to blasting. The current plan is to ship ore directly from the mine to an offsite mill employing a toll-milling arrangement.

Mine Development - Drilling the Northeast Corridor

For technical details, see our report filed on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019. The Property’s Red Hills and Church zones can support mine development utilizing the Company’s current infrastructure. Underground mining in the Red Hills area will extract ore on the 300-level. We anticipate mining to begin by the end of 2020. We plan to initially mine 10,000 tons of material per year at a rate of approximately 50 tons per day.

We have a $5.0 million exploration and mine development program that is focused on defining the Property’s existing and mineable gold mineralization; to advance the geologic modeling in preparation for mining; and bulk sampling of the Project’s current underground workings as well as for working capital purposes.

Details of the development program are as follows:

Line items 1, 2, 3 and 5 above, totalling $3.0 million are required for bulk sampling of the Property’s current workings.

Line item 4 accounts for the Development Drilling totalling $2.0 million required to fully assess the Northeast Corridor.

The estimates above are for planning purposes only. No information contained herein should be considered an official corporate offering. The application of funds shown above is an estimate and may not exactly match the actual future costs.

Funding

All of our ongoing operations, since the inception of our Mineral Option Agreement on October 4, 2014, have been funded by monies advanced to us by Lode Star Gold INC. (LSG) our largest shareholder. We do not currently have enough funds to carry out our entire plan of operations, so we intend to meet the balance of our cash requirements for the next 12 months through a combination of debt financing and equity financing through private placements. There is no assurance that we will be successful in completing any such financings

If we are unsuccessful in obtaining sufficient funds through our capital raising efforts, we may review other financing options, although we cannot provide any assurance that any such options will be available to us or on terms reasonably acceptable to us. Further, if we are unable to secure any additional financing then we plan to reduce the amount that we spend on our operations, including our management-related consulting fees and other general expenses, so as not to exceed the capital resources available to us. Regardless, our current cash reserves and working capital will not be sufficient for us to sustain our business for the next 12 months, even if we decide to scale back our operations.

Personnel

We have no employees. Apart from periodic consulting fees, our president and CEO, Mark Walmesley, receives no compensation for his services. We expect to continue to use outside consultants, advisors, attorneys and accountants as necessary.

Our Chief Operating Officer, Thomas Temkin, who is also a director, is a Certified Professional Geologist and a Qualified Person under National Instrument (NI) 43101, with more than 40 years of experience in the mining industry, primarily in exploration in the Western United States. He is currently a consulting geologist working with LSG. Mr. Temkin has been associated with LSG and the Property for over 20 years and has been instrumental through its entire exploration program to date.

Our Corporate Secretary, Pam Walters, has been associated with the mining industry for over 25 years and has managed the corporate finance and business operations of LSG and its owners.

Going Concern

Our auditors have issued a going concern opinion. This means that there is substantial doubt that we can continue as an on-going business for the next twelve months unless we obtain additional capital to pay our expenses. This is because we have not generated any revenues to-date and we cannot currently estimate the timing of any possible future revenues. Our only source of cash at this time is from loans or investments by others in our common stock.

Revenues

We had no operating revenues during the three-months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019. We recorded a net loss of $133,508 for the current quarter and have an accumulated deficit of $3,134,769. The possibility and timing of revenue being generated from our mineral property interest remains uncertain

Consulting services expense was higher in the first quarter of 2020 primarily due to a combination of the following:

Professional fees were lower in the first quarter of 2020 primarily due to audit services of approximately $12,000 for the 2018 year-end being invoiced in Q1 2019, while the equivalent services for the 2019 year end were not yet invoiced in 2020.

Interest, bank and finance charges were higher primarily due to the ongoing increase in loans from LSG.