Eshmun, “when we go underground because of the more difficult...

Eshmun,

“when we go underground because of the more difficult problem of defining resources/reserves from point-wise radial and restricted locations UG as opposed to surface drilling along a line. Radial drilling has a high degree of divergence as you move away from where a hole is collared and if your ore body is vertical you have a good chance of missing it especially if your mine tunnels are sitting vertically above your ore body as they probably will. This probably would make more sense if I could draw a picture.”

I know you like to swagger around HC making long, authoritative posts but I simply can’t believe the ignorance behind such rubbish. The days of using sectional drilling for resource estimations ended over 30 years ago. With the high precision of underground surveying, downhole surveying, and 3D geological models built around wireframes, where the geo simply clicks his mouse on the beginning and end of ore lode intercepts, computers will accurately interpolate grades into that 3D ore lode with a high degree of confidence. Slice and dice that model into sections or flitch plans or what suits, it matters not so long as there is enough drilling density for the required confidence of that interpolation. In fact, oblique drilling of the ore lode is preferential for highly variable grade distributions as found in most gold deposits (as opposed to say aluminium grades in a bauxite deposit) because a longer, down dip or along strike intersections provide more assay sample points with which to smooth out the ‘nuggety’ effect of gold mineralisation.

A couple of small drives off the decline at the furthest distance from the ore body for underground drill sites will provide ample room for cheap and deep extensions to the resource model. M1 Sth is being defined by nominally 5 holes along strike (~30-35 centres) every 35m in depth. Hole TAN18-DD228 was over 1km long, costing between 1/3 and 1/5 million dollars I’m guessing. Pulling rods to change a bit over that depth talks a bloody long time as you could imagine and explains why diamond drilling gets exponentially expensive with increasing depth. Do the math, there is only so much money and many competing projects, including chasing the shallower high-grade extensions beneath the M5 pit so an underground resource and reserve can be added to the mine plan there. If only drillers would accept Afterpay, WAF could drill everything today and pay for it in monthly instalments once the mine is producing gold bars.

Not just would drilling the M1 Sth resource out from surface be dear as poison, you seem to forget that drilling is a two-edged sword. Sometimes infill drilling downgrades the thickness, grade and strike length from early expectations and kills the value baked into those high expectations. Whatever, I don’t really mind a bit of whinging and HC is a forum for all to have there say, but if you are determined to prove how much you don’t know, can you please keep your posts short. You’re giving us others who swagger around HC making long and authoritative posts a bad name.

Cheers