Douglas Willock, President and CEO of Polar Star Mining (TSX-V: PSR), and David G. Speck Vice President

While a lot of the companies we interview here were often started by people who have only ever worked in the mining industry as geologists, it's interesting to get a different perspective from time to time. Mining industry companies started by people who have come over from another industry present a fascinating look at cross-industry movement. In some cases, investors are right to be cautious about those cross-industry moves, because experience plays such a key role in success. However, in the case of Polar Star Mining, a cross industry move makes perfect sense and this company has a very compelling story to tell.

We spoke with Douglas Willock, President and CEO of Polar Star Mining (TSX-V: PSR), a Toronto-based exploration company with 3 main project areas in Chile. Mr. Willock didn't start in the mining industry but that doesn't mean his experience isn't going to be valuable! He was an investment banker for over 2 decades before founding Polar Star Mining in 2003. He gave us a brief background on his experience: "I'm used to raising funds, I've been engaged in mergers and acquisitions, fairness opinions, and new issues. For the last number of years I've been involved in restructuring junior mining companies." So his cross-industry experience is actually industry experience of exactly the kind that a good CEO should have. "I founded this company in 2003 to look at a European acquisition, but we didn't make that acquisition. I waited and then went to

Chile in 2007 and put together a team of 25 people on the ground and we've staked and optioned about 256,000 hectares in that country, which makes us a pretty significant landholder."

They have 3 main Chilean project areas – Montezuma in Region 2, Los Azules in Region 3, and the Talca Gold District in Region 7.

 Los Azules is a copper, uranium, molybdenum project of which they own [2,600 hectares]  and have an option-to-purchase agreement on an additional [903] hectares. "We started working on it 2 years ago. We had some interesting results with copper and molybdenum but what really excited us was the uranium, because we got nearly 3 pounds per ton from a 50 kilogram surface sample. We've identified a large geophysical anomaly that could cover a target of up to 500 million tons. We're targeting the third quarter to do some drilling there."

Their Talca Gold District project consists of  21,300 hectares that they acquired by staking and on which they have identified 8 priority gold targets  and they have a 7 year option to purchase a 200 tpd permitted mill including and an additional 1,390 hectares of mining leases on which a resource has been defined .  “This is a gold, silver belt, on which our V.P. of Exploration,  Terry Walker, worked  in the early 1990's for several other companies and identified 15 gold and copper/gold targets. It's never been aggressively explored. We really like what we're seeing. There are lots of people, good infrastructure, roads, water, and we even have our own bus stop."

"The most interesting property we have in our portfolio," said Mr. Willock, "is the Montezuma project in Region 2". This project, which is owned 100% by Polar Star, is a 50,100 hectare property covering 25 kilometers of the West Fault, which is a structural zone that plays host to world class copper deposits. "The reason it's interesting is that to the north of us is Codelco, one of the largest copper miners in the world. They have a big complex there called "Chuquicamata". And to the south of us is Antofagasta PLC. They are putting a new deposit into production called Esperanza, at a cost of over $2.3 billion dollars. So we like to think of ourselves as being bookended by 2 big mining operations.   Our property has never been explored on the scale and to the extent we are currently doing.  We are proceeding in a thorough, scientific way to ensure we get the returns from our exploration drilling programs. We're very excited about our prospects and it's being reflected in the marketplace."

After quickly reviewing the project, Mr. Willock gave us more detail: "We've completed 7,200 meters of R.C. drilling over the last 12 months. Seventeen of the 29 holes we have drilled so far have encountered copper and gold mineralization but one of the challenges we have is sheer scale: The property is 501 square kilometers and we're looking at structures up to 30 kilometers long. We're very encouraged because in a very short amount of time we have gained some traction and have identified six large target zones. We are scheduled to bring 2 diamond drill rigs to the property in June 2010. This will give us a lot more information because we'll be better able to see the structure in the rock."

The area has a rich mining tradition, as Mr. Willock pointed out: "A lot of investors would remember the Guggenheim name. That was a great family that spawned a number of mining companies, particularly the mine to the north of us, Chuquicamata which was part of Anaconda before being acquired by Codelco in 1971. The Guggenheims developed the mine in 1912 and at that time the mine had a grade of approximately 2.3% copper and reserves of about 330 million tons. As the American economy expanded through the 1920's and 1930's, it was a metal-intensive period and these mines were important to supply the US with secure copper. Nearly 100 years later, we're looking at 18.2 billion tons in resources and there aren't many places in the world that have more mineral resources than when you started 100 years ago."

The project itself is ideally placed, not just because of the mineralization of the area, but also because of infrastructure: "We are in the middle of mining country. Codelco’s operation to the north of us has its own smelter. Between us and nearby town Calama, there's an airport. So you can get off the airplane, get into a truck, and you're on our property in 10 minutes. We've got year-round access for weather."

All projects face challenges but Mr. Willock is optimistic about theirs: "The challenge is just simply executing. Once you hit, you're going to want 15 to 20 drill rigs on the property so there are challenges like finding the right company, staffing up, and so on. But we're lucky because Chile has lots of talented people. We just need to find them and be well organized so we can pull it all together as efficiently as possible."

These are some exciting projects for Mr. Willock and his team.   Their current fundraising activity raised C$15 million in March 2010, 50% more than targeted.  The funds will help make those projects happen. Investors might find this company very interesting, not only for its experienced management team, including 25 people in Chile but also for the interesting projects they are developing, in arguably the most attractive mining jurisdiction in the world.

Reference

http://www.polarstarmining.com

Polar Star Mining Corporation

10 King Street East, Suite 500

Toronto, Ontario

M5C 1C3

Contact:  

David Speck, Vice President

(416) 368-3496

Email:  info@polarstarmining.com