Consider this: we have MT surveys from each of the three sites and it is apparent that Columbus Salt marsh is displaying the lowest resistivity. Big Smokey South is very good too but Albemarle is fighting some water permitting claims in that area so it'd make sense to wait for an outcome there first. Alkali Lake seems to be sidelined for now.
Since we know that, it'd make sense to drill CM first especially since it costs A$1.5M for that single drill hole plus another 400k for testing and other post-drill works. A$3.5M is a lot you are correct but after everything CM1, we will have ~1mil left. Not enough for another 1000m hole. They are very expensive and take time, especially since our only option here is diamond drilling as RC/AC simply doesn't go that deep - especially given the unstable ground conditions in this part of Nevada.
If you look at PNN, they are drilling literally less than a fifth of our depth. LKE not much further. From what I have seen, we seem to be drilling the deepest out of any ASX listed brine explorers, however, Geof has mentioned that there seems to be a correlation between depth and lithium grade so fingers crossed.
The directors mentioned that external equity financing will most likely be required for subsequent drill holes but likely at a much higher issue price once we get some good results from our first drill.
To sum up: 1) not enough money to drill all 3 at once 2) CM is the most conductive so we drilling there first 3) good results from cm1 can help a less dilutive cr in the future 4) brine is largely consistent between aquifers so strike rate shouldn't be a problem 5) drilling contract is currently being prepared, Ann out very shortly I expect.
Yeh give Geof a ring. He's probably a busy man right now but always has time to chat to shareholders.
p.s I'd say we are about ~2 months behind most other brine explorers' drill. I'd say 1.5 month behind PNN's Rincon, 2 month behinds Lake, 2 months behind CAD, 1 month behind ASN. Just an estimate.
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