Hello and thanks to @Guy who posted a series of questions for Aton Resources (TSXV:AAN) CEO Mark Campbell to address. It was my pleasure to discuss the questions with Mr. Campbell and share his thoughts with you here. Read on for more. Please note, this is sponsored content.  https://ceo.ca/aan?54f5f9e1c0e5 

(1) Do you have a time table for when drilling will resume?

- Mark Campbell: "I am sure there is much frustration and questions about when we will get drilling again. But I cannot give you any timeline as we are focused on the mining law reform as this will be a game changer for us and the mining industry in Egypt. We had an outstanding drilling program last year, one which produced exciting results, and when we came back to follow-up with a financing for the next phase we found little support, even though all of our investors were pleased and encouraged by the results."

(2) Can you give us some details on what the focus and scope of the drilling will be?

- Aton has lots of work to do. The constraint is financing. See possible targets in @Newton article here, https://ceo.ca/@newton/looking-back-to-see-forward-at-aan-abu-marawat-concession

(3) What kind of work has been completed during calendar 2019 while drilling has been on hold?

There has been some more regional geology done, that led to the discovery of 2 new zones of mineralization at Safaga South and Wasif (see NR 2019-06-20).
 https://www.atonresources.com/news/2019/aton-discovers-2-new-zones-of-mineralisation-at-safaga-south-and-wasif-sampling-up-to-16.45-g-t-au/ 

(4) Do you think the share structure had any role in being unable to get the larger scale placement completed?

- Mark Campbell: "Like I have said, we had an outstanding drilling program last year, one which produced exciting results, but when we came back with a follow-up financing we found little support, even though all of our investors were pleased and encouraged by the results. But this, I believe, has nothing at all to do with investors firm belief in the geological potential our exploration targets like Rodruin, but mainly because of them waiting to see 2 things. (1) Reform of the mining law to a tax, rent and royalty regime, the eradication of the production sharing model, and streamlining of obtaining new ground by elimination of oil-style bid rounds. This would allow us and everyone else to JV with others to explore and develop our Abu Marawat Concession area (though I cannot discuss who we may be talking to) and (2) To a lessor extent, elimination of dilution and number of shares outstanding."

- Mark Campbell: "Now as to the first one, we are working closely with the other industry players, Wood Mac, and the Government to get something that suits all parties. We are confident that the PSA and bid rounds have gone away, but we are awaiting the final structure of the fiscal regime. This is happening as we speak. I feel positive about a successful outcome, but this is all I can say about it other than "It is our focus, given it’s overriding importance." Hopefully, it won’t be much longer now -- just a couple of months."

- Mark Campbell: "We had an outstanding drilling program last year, one which produced exciting results, and when we came back to follow-up with a financing for the next phase we found little support, even though all of our investors were pleased and encouraged by the results. This is, I believe, mainly because of them waiting to see 2 things. (1) Reform of the mining law to a tax, rent and royalty regime, the eradication of the production sharing model, and streamlining of obtaining new ground by elimination of oil-style bid rounds. This would allow us and everyone else to JV with others to explore and develop our Abu Marawat Concession area (though I cannot discuss who we may be talking to). (2) To a lessor extent, elimination of dilution and number of shares outstanding."

- Mark Campbell: "Now as to the first one, we are working closely with the other industry players, Wood Mac, and the Government to get something that suits all parties. This is happening as we speak. I feel positive about a successful outcome, but this is all I can say about it other than "It is our focus, given it’s overriding importance." Hopefully, it won’t be much longer now -- just a couple of months."

- Mark Campbell: "As for the share structure, I have no plans to rollback the stock, as this does nothing except hurt shareholders. If I was not going to do it at a higher share price, I sure as hell am not going to it at $0.02! If I were to do it, then I'd do it when the stock is higher and we have strongly up-trending share price. Otherwise it is only destructive to share value."

(5) Are you able to share any feedback you received from your larger investors, as to the results of the 2018 drill campaign? Are they encouraged? Do you still view them as supportive to your longer-term efforts?

- Mark Campbell: "I’ve been working on this for 25 years and it has to be sorted. Then, we can move forward with our drilling at Rodruin and at other targets, develop Hamama, JV with others, and possibly pick up other interesting exploration areas. Everything is about financing. To raise money at this share price with people still waiting to see what happens with mining reform would be prohibitive, in terms of dilution. Even with great results, it would probably not produce much result in our share price with the elephant still in the room: mining reform."

- Mark Campbell: "As I keep saying, the way to get rid of dilution is to build value into the company. Those things in our case are: (A) Secure the most attractive economic terms under reformed mining law, (B) Obtain our mining license at Hamama, which we are working on but with an eye on new T&C’s in Egypt, (C) Drilling, of course. We have an exciting and extensive one plan, once we accomplish at least (A) and possibly (B) as well. We want to drill and do the exploration work that we need to do, but questions around the T&C’s have always been a major issue. These are finally being sorted out."

- Mark Campbell: " So in then end, our shareholders are encouraged by what we have achieved in our exploration program and want us to carry on and attain our ultimate goal, but they also know that we need to get certain things done, so that we can achieve those ends in a faster and more economically attractive manner. Keep in mind, that we are first movers in Egypt and by far the most advanced exploration company. So we will benefit from an opening up of the sector here and Egypt becoming a new exploration destination."

Thanks to Mr. Mark Campbell for answering these questions posted on CEO.ca. Please reply online if you'd like additional points of clarification.