So, they hire Dr Hawke to pick her brains on the nature of the...

So, they hire Dr Hawke to pick her brains on the nature of the beast that they seek, and suddenly there's too many geologists? 

Of course there will be a compromise as to where they go next. Auris don't have the ability or budget of SFR - which is to say, to be able to spray 56,000m of air core drilling every quarter at the ground like they're playing darts at the pub - and hence they have to compromise. 

One thing everyone fails to ask about vaunted SFR is "do you need to drill 56,000m of AC a quarter for ten years to find nothing of your own (Monty was TLM's, and Citra was AUR's and apparently is nothing)? What kind of expertise is that, and what expertise is Dr Hawke bringing? One may suggest, being the Devil's Advocate, that Dr Hawke may either bring a lot of expertise at targeting a very few holes extremely well, resulting in AUR finding a VMS without having to drill 240,000m a year....or she will struggle to deliver results without drilling 240,000m of AC a year because...really, what skill does one possess if SFR hasn't found diddly squat in ten years doing precisely that?

Philosophically, though, if you're in AUR's position, you really don't have much choice except to grasp at straws no matter what. There's the very slight chance that Dr Hawke can bring a crucial insight that will land one of the few remaining holes left in AUR's budget and the depleted pockets of their investors on target, so it's worth the gamble.

Which is all that's left to them now.