Novo Resources Corp. (TSX-V: NVO; OTCQX: NSRPF): Well-Funded Canadian Gold Exploration Company, Three Main Projects of Conglomerate Gold, Significant Land Package Pilbara Region of Western Australia; Interview with Dr. Quinton Hennigh, Chairman and President

Novo Resources Corp. (TSX-V: NVO; OTCQX: NSRPF) is a Canadian gold exploration company, with a significant land package covering approximately 13,000 sq km, with varying ownership interests in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. We learned from Dr. Quinton Hennigh, Chairman and President of Novo Resources, that they have three main projects that host conglomerate gold. Their fully permitted and shovel ready Beatons Creek project has a resource of about 900,000 ounces indicated and inferred at the grade of about 2.5 g/t. Currently Novo is advancing their Karratha conglomerate gold project, through permitting, towards the production decision. Their third project, called Egina, is a joint venture with Sumitomo Corporation, and is fully financed. According to Dr. Hennigh, the high-grade Egina project can be fast tracked very quickly because the gold is free from rock matrix and therefore easily mineable and easily recoverable.Novo Resources Corp.Dr. Allen Alper:This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-Chief of Metals News, interviewing Dr. Quinton Hennigh, who's Chairman and President of Novo Resources Corp. Could you give our readers/investors an overview of what Novo Resources is and also what differentiates Novo Resources from its peers and tell us what has happened with Novo Resources since our last interview in March. Dr. Quinton Hennigh:Novo Resources is an exploration company, a gold company, exploring in the Pilbara region of Northwest Australia. We are focused on looking at conglomerate hosted gold systems. We've been in the area now for nine years. We've been exploring a number of areas. We have three main projects. Each is a conglomerate host or a conglomerate related gold.The first project, Beatons Creek, is where we started. It currently has a resource of about 900,000 ounces indicated and inferred. The grade is about 2.5 grams. It's the most advanced project. It is a nuggety gold project, as are all the conglomerate gold deposits we've been working on to date. But it is somewhat finer grained, therefore we were able to advance it and we actually have it fully permitted, fully ready for development.The second operation we have is the Karratha Gold project. It's also conglomerate hosted like Beatons Creek, but the gold is quite coarse. It's been the main focus for about two years now, since the initial land acquisition we made in the area in the first half of 2017. The conglomerates at Karratha, which includes Comet Well and Purdy's Reward, are somewhat older. They are at the bottom of the sequence, the lowest part of the Fortescue basin. At present, we have advanced this through trenching and bulk sampling. We also did extensive core drilling to define geology. We're basically pushing it forward on a path similar to what we did at Beatons Creek. We anticipate test mining the project, as well as permitting it for production.The third project we have is called Egina. It is a project focused on gravels that are derived from weathering of older gold-bearing conglomerates. Basically, we have conglomerates that are very similar to Karratha as well as Beatons Creek that have eroded back, and the gold that's in them has been liberated and washed down into a vast terrace which is a flat piedmont area that extends all the way down to the ocean. This terrace has gold-bearing gravels covering its surface. These gravels are quite shallow. They are extensive from what we can see. Our recent trenching efforts and sampling efforts have shown exceptional grades. In places, we're seeing grades of one to two grams gold per cubic meter.It is an exciting gold project because the gold is free. Most of it is free from rock matrix. It is right at surface, free dig, easily mineable, easily recoverable. It is of foremost importance for us at this time. We see advancing it very quickly. We have support through an agreement with Sumitomo Corporation, whereby they're putting up money to advance it through three stages of initial exploration and development, including test mining, in exchange for earning a 40% interest. We're very excited about this. It's totally financed, in my view, and it is a very, very important project for us.Dr. Allen Alper:That sounds exciting. It must be very enjoyable doing exploration like that, finding vast amounts of gold. You and your team must be having a great time.Dr. Quinton Hennigh:Yes, we are. And what makes us different or exceptional is we're the main player in this district. We have a huge land position in Pilbara, nearly 13,000 square kilometers. Not only do we have the three projects that I mentioned, Beatons Creek, Karratha and Egina, we also have huge exploration upside. We're currently doing greenfield work on some new areas. We anticipate further discovery of similar style mineralization across this area. Basically, we're unlocking a gold belt, a district scale gold play in our view.Dr. Allen Alper:That sounds exciting. Could you tell our readers/investors a bit more about your plans for this year going into 2020?Dr. Quinton Hennigh:On Beatons Creek, we've been looking at the best way to monetize that asset. We anticipate having a path forward on that in the very near future. It's fully permitted at this point. It's basically ready to put into production.Regarding the second asset, Egina, we're moving forward very quickly. We did some trenching over the past couple of months that shows us the means by which we can explore and evaluate where the gold is and what the gold grades are. We've been able to use techniques like ground penetrating radar followed by bulk sampling and processing to get a handle on where the gold is and what this deposit looks like.Over the next few months, we will be opening up a number of new trenches and testing new areas. We anticipate being able to show the market that this system is, indeed, going to be a very large gold system. But also, we are doing some technical work, including looking at different means of processing to show the market how we plan to process this material. Hopefully processing schemes using little water, which basically enable us to produce gold, without having to employ lots and lots of water. This is a dry region so we're working on not only the exploration, but we're working on the technical aspects that are needed to move the project forward.Excavation of a 170 tonne bulk sample of gold-bearing lag gravels at Egina.As far as Karratha goes, we are currently working with the Aboriginals on a native agreement. This would help us move the project forward and put us in a position where we can do test mining. We're also working on technical aspects similar to those at Egina. We need processing techniques, and I think we found one in the form of mechanical sorting. Work we did, early this year with TOMRA, shows that we can sort out the gold-bearing nuggets or the rock pieces that have gold-bearing nuggets, quite easily, from the remaining material. We're moving it forward both on the negotiation side as well as the technical side.Novo's IGR3000 gravity gold plant in operation at Egina.Dr. Allen Alper:That sounds great. Great projects you have going on and such a great opportunity! Could you review your outstanding background and also your team's?Dr. Quinton Hennigh:I am an exploration geologist. I've been working in gold exploration for about 26 years now. I've worked for major mining companies, including Homestake, Newcrest and Newmont up until 2007. I then joined the junior sector. I have been involved with a number of gold junior companies, including Gold Canyon Resources and established Novo in 2010. I subsequently acquired these projects in Australia, starting with Beatons Creek. I've been working, building Novo up to what it is today, over the past almost 10 years.We are very pleased with the success we've made. We've taken something that's been largely conceptual and advanced it all the way to deposits that are, in the case of Beatons Creek, ready to mine, but also in the case of Egina and Karratha, ones that clearly have large size potential and can be advanced fairly quickly.That's my background. The other people involved in the Company are: Rob Humphryson, the CEO. He's Australian. He's a Perth based mining engineer by background. He's worked in the mining industry his entire career, been involved in a number of different functions, including production level work, with Australian gold producers, but has also been in the mining services industry. He knows basically everybody in the Australian mining scene. Very well connected, not only with other mining executives and people, but also with the government, so he's an incredibly valuable asset. Rob's a very creative person. He's enabled us to do some of our more interesting endeavors, like testing out dry processing schemes at Egina, for example. I am very pleased with Rob and his ability to advance a project and build a team. He has a very good crew that he's put together that allows us to advance these assets, our unusual assets I should say, in a meaningful way.We have our own in-house environmental permitter. We have our own engineer, who's working on some of the more unusual aspects of these deposits. Most junior exploration companies don't have these kinds of people in-house, but we do, a very good team to advance things.Our CFO, Ronan Sabo-Walsh, has been involved with the Company almost since day one. He is definitely my right hand man. Most CFOs you don't hear much about, but Ronan has been integral, advancing every aspect of the Company to date, including negotiations with various parties over the years. Making sure all our filings and regulatory stuff is met as one would expect, but also helping us with some creative means of financing such as our deal with Sumitomo Corporation. The guy is kind of a wizard when it comes to operating creatively.Dr. Allen Alper:Wow. That sounds like you have a great team. You have a great background and you are efficient moving your Company forward. Could you tell our readers/investors a bit about your share structure?Dr. Quinton Hennigh:Right now we have 178.8 million shares out and with warrants and options around 204 million shares. The warrants are held by Kirkland Lake. They're exercisable at $6. Kirkland Lake is our largest shareholder and has been since September of 2017. They took part in a placement. They also bought some shares from other parties so they stand at roughly 17% ownership in Novo at present.Next in line is Eric Sprott, who personally holds somewhere around 11%. Eric, as most people know, is a well-known mining financier. He's also a Director of Novo. We also have other large shareholdings, held with Mark Creasy, a well-known prospector in Australia. Mark actually helped put together the initial land position for Novo, in the early days. I believe Mark has about 7% of Novo stock. We have a holding in the hands of Newmont Gold Corp. I believe that position is somewhere around 4%. Newmont's been involved with us since the early days, as well.So, a very good solid shareholding, in very strong hands. We've been blessed with a lot of support there. We also have a strategic alliance with Sumitomo Corporation. At Egina, for example, financing for the project in exchange for a minority position. They've also set aside money for us to work on other strategic initiatives, so we have access to capital, I would say, above and beyond any junior company.Dr. Allen Alper:That's great to have such strong support, financial support, and company support. Your Company's in an outstanding position. Could you tell our readers/ investors the primary reasons our readers/investors should consider investing in Novo Resources Corp?Dr. Quinton Hennigh:Yes, certainly. The story of Novo is a unique one. We're dealing with opening up a new gold field. We've taken it from a very conceptual level to a very tangible level. It is an unusual gold project, but it is potentially a very large project that could be a game changer for the gold industry. Yes, we're a bit quirky in our style, the techniques that we're going to need to extract the gold and things like this, but the people that appreciate the science that we're doing in terms of unlocking these deposits will be greatly rewarded at the end. We have huge potential here. All of these gold systems are quite large. These things go on for kilometers.We feel that we're on the right track on all accounts. Because of the nuggety nature of the gold, we have to be creative. But we have a strong handle on dealing with it, we're really the experts in the field at this point. So, you're investing in huge upside, with a team that knows how to advance some very, very unusual, but potentially very lucrative gold deposits.Novo Resources Corp.Dr. Allen Alper:That sounds excellent. Very, very strong reasons why our readers/investors should consider looking into investing in Novo Resources Corp. Is there anything else you'd like to add Quinton?Dr. Quinton Hennigh:I would say, in light of the rising gold market, we are hitting this just at the right time. We took this Company from the conceptual level, doing hard yards through the down gold market from say 2011, when the gold price started coming off, all the way up until recent time. But we've managed to get through those hard yards and we're now in a position where, as the gold price is going up, I think we'll see the fruits of our labor. I think the timing couldn't be better.Dr. Allen Alper:That sounds excellent. We'll publish your press releases as they come out so our readers/investors can follow your progress.https://www.novoresources.comQuinton HennighPresident and ChairmanInvestor Relations:Leo Karabelas, VP of Corporate CommunicationsTelephone: (416) 543-3120E-mail: leo@novoresources.com