Just while we are waiting on those core assay results a few...

Just while we are waiting on those core assay results a few interesting facts and figures and an anecdotal story from my past.

First of all there were 50 days (13 April 2016 to 2 June 2016) between KDR reporting the existence of the first pegmatite core samples at Bounty and the company reporting the results to the market.

So far for ESR we have waited 73 days from the announcement of the discovery of the drill core in the core shed (18/11/2016) (but KDR didn't have Christmas in between).

It can't be much longer now.

OK to the story. Some years ago I was managing an iron ore exploration project in West Africa for an aspiring company when IO prices were high. The company I worked for hired an experienced geologist that specialised in geomorphology to assist with the early stage exploration and to help try and identify the iron formations through the jungle canopy with Landsat images and airborne geophysics that I'd arranged to be flown. Several early programs of rock chip sampling where done on the iron formations under his supervision. Prior to submitting the rock chip samples for assay the geologist gave estimates of the iron content in each table. I was stunned at the accuracy of his estimates when the assay results finally came back. I can't remember off hand the exact level of accuracy but they were extremely close right down the list and what's more the samples represented a diverse range of iron presentations, from haematite/goethite cap and breccia, down to varying degrees of weathered to fresh samples of itabirite/martite.

The lesson there is that a good geologist should be able to visually estimate the amount of spodumene and other accessory Li minerals in a sample and then calculate a reasonably accurate Li2O grade from his or her visual estimate of those minerals. I'd say they are going ahead with their plans because they are pretty confident in what they have and are just waiting for confirmation. Even if the grades turn out to disappoint a little the drilling programs will still obviously be worthwhile unless the geologists here are complete plonkers (which they won't be) IMO. Esh