Interview: Alan Wancier of Mineros Discusses The Company’s Environmental & Social Efforts In Colombia’s Lower Cauca River Region

Mineros SA (TSE: MSA) is a rather uncommon mine for Colombia. While most mines are surface or underground mines, Mineros focuses on river mining. Still, CFO Alan Wancier insists that the company goes above and beyond what is required with regards to environmental stewardship, and also the company’s social commitment to the largely impoverished community around Nechí, Antioquia, in Colombia’s Bajo Cauca (lower Cauca River) region. Once home to the fabled Zenú people, who created beautiful, intricate gold jewelry and artwork until decimated by the Spanish, the area of lowland plains and marshes still hold lots of gold. However, downstream of the volcanic highlands to the south, this gold is alluvial.

Finance Colombia’s Executive Editor Loren Moss spent a few minutes with Mineros SA CFO Alan Wancier to discuss the company’s social commitments and unusual (for Colombia) mining techniques.

Finance Colombia: I’m here with Alan Wancier of Mineros. Mineros has been a long-time sponsor of the Colombia Gold Summit. We’re here at CGS 2024. You just gave a really interesting presentation talking about Mineros. Mineros is a mining company. I think, if I’m not mistaken, you guys are based right here in Medellín, right?

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Alan Wancier: Yes, our headquarters are in Medellín. Yeah.

Finance Colombia: Yeah, but you’re on the TSX.

Alan Wancier: Yes, also.

Finance Colombia: Great, great. And so, you guys have an interesting model because a lot of the mines, the precious metals mines that I’ve seen here in Colombia are your traditional kind of deep tunnel mines, but you guys have diverse operations. You guys have here in the north of Antioquia an interesting alluvial mining operation. If you could touch a little bit on that.

Alan Wancier: Yeah, so, we have an alluvial operation in El Bagre, Antioquia. It’s called the Nechí Mine. We have roughly five bucket dredges, nine suction dredges, and another couple of Brazilian dredges. We mine the bank of the river. Not the river, per se, in a closed pond. We create a closed pond, water doesn’t mix with the river water. And our deposit is between 15 meters and 30 meters deep. We dredge the deposit, we do the beneficiation within the bucket dredges, and inside the bucket dredges, all gold is separated just by water and gravity.

Finance Colombia: So that’s another thing I was going to ask you, because a lot of traditional mining operations need either cyanide or mercury, but you guys have a process that you use, I think a gravity-based process, that’s a lot more environmentally friendly.

Alan Wancier: Yes. We only use water and gravity, no chemicals, and the electricity for the dredges comes from our hydroelectric plants. So we have a very, let’s say, green gold. Our gold is very, very sustainable. And as we move upwards in the deposit or downstream in the river, we close the mine, we put a layer of soil, we plant again, and grass and forests grow again.

Finance Colombia: So, very environmentally responsible.

Alan Wancier: Yes, very environmentally responsible.

Finance Colombia: Now, that area of Colombia has also suffered from underinvestment and a lack of attention from the authorities. You also mentioned some of the things that, you know, you talked about the environmental responsibility that you guys have, but you also have some social programs and ways that you interact with the local economy up there, right?

Alan Wancier: Yes, we invest a lot in the local economy. We have a bee plantation, a bee…I’m not sure how you say it in English.

Finance Colombia: In Spanish.

Alan Wancier: An aviary…Beekeeping.

Finance Colombia: For a bird. Hatchery, a bird-

Alan Wancier: No, but for bees. Bees.

Finance Colombia: Oh, bees. Okay, apiculture.

Alan Wancier: Apiculture.

Finance Colombia: I forget the word for honey and bees. Yeah, there’s a word for it. I forget what it is in English [laughs].

Alan Wancier: We also have one of the biggest rubber plantations-

Finance Colombia: Oh, wow.

Alan Wancier: In the country. We also have some small projects, growing fish. And we also invest a lot in infrastructure.

Finance Colombia: Okay.

Alan Wancier: We invest a lot in the education; we have built bridges, we have built roads, and we invest a lot in the community, and we are very, very close to the community, and the community is very close to us for that reason.

Finance Colombia: I see, and that’s good. You know, I know that you guys have been good citizens. I’ve followed you all for some time, being here in Colombia. And I think one of the things also that you talked about, you know, our audience is made up of a lot of institutional investors, and it sounds like your shares are kind of trading at a bargain rate of discount, right now.

Alan Wancier: Yes, our shares, compared to our peers, are very cheap.

This is because, maybe several reasons. Probably the major reason is that we’ve been public in Colombia for 50 years.

Finance Colombia: Yeah.

Alan Wancier: Since the 1980s, give or take. But Colombia is a very illiquid market. We were the only gold mining company in the exchange. So, people and investors do not know how to value us in Colombia.

Finance Colombia: Right.

Alan Wancier: That’s why we did an IPO in Canada in 2021, with the idea that more people are going to know us and the idea for us to be better valued and to be able to do more business with other mining companies. In Canada, we started with a small float, only $25 million in the IPO.

But we’ve slowly been moving shares, or investors have been moving shares, from Colombia to Canada. And as more shares are moving in Canada, we get more liquidity in Canada and a better share price. As an example, last year in Canada, we were trading at 20,000 shares per day on average. Today, we’re trading 80,000 shares per average. So we have quadrupled the liquidity in Canada, and our strategy is to keep increasing that liquidity to maybe get a better rate or to get a re-rate in the future. Our stock has almost tripled since nine months ago, a year ago, for various reasons. Primarily because we have a new majority shareholder.

So those changes in shareholders have made a good positive impact in the Canadian and economic market. Also, of course, the price of gold has increased. That helps all gold mining companies. We have had very good results, and we hope to continue to have good results in the future. We also have had a bigger exposure to investors. We are going to every conference we can, and we are getting our name out.

Finance Colombia: I see that, and that’s important. You guys, I think that, one, when you bring in a majority shareholder, that’s a vote of confidence from the institutional capital markets. And it’s also, I think, important to point out that you guys are no startup. I think you guys are celebrating, like, your 50th anniversary.

Alan Wancier: We celebrated our 50th anniversary about a month ago, 3 weeks ago. Yes, we’re no startup, and we produce cash. We’re one of the few companies that actually makes cash and pays a dividend, and we pay a hefty dividend. Our current dividend yield is at 10%, and we have paid dividends for decades. We are probably an aristocrat dividend payer, probably compared to Agnico in terms of the number of years paying dividends consistently.

Finance Colombia: That’s unusual because a lot of the mining companies we see here in Colombia, not all of them, but a lot of them, are early-stage, still exploratory, juniors, things like that. But you guys are an established operation with a track record, and so I think that your move to TSX, your continued growth, and your responsibility as a company means that more investors are going to be inevitable, and I think that they are aware of you. So, thanks again for your time. Great presentation. And I think that mineros.com.co is how people can find out about it. And what’s the TSX symbol again?

Alan Wancier: MSA.

Finance Colombia: MSA.

Alan Wancier: MSA on the TSX.

Finance Colombia: Worth keeping a look-out.  I’m going to add that to my watch list, if not more, so thanks a lot.