Reluctant to re-hash old stuff again, and I fully realize many holders are looking - and rightly so - for a new direction from SI6 and it's BOD, but nonetheless it perplexes me why more notice is not taken of existing cobalt results from 2014/15 and other drilling on Maibele North, and more information on the BCL/TNMC progress is not forthcoming , including the total lack of any feedback on the Worley Parsons report which was to have included cobalt which had been was omitted from the 2014 JORC, at the time Co was about US$10/lb, a far cry from recent levels.
BCL of course had produced the fairly normal sort of cobalt bi product for 50 odd years at Selebi from sulphide ores, so nothing new there, but many holes on the Maibele JV after 2015 were not tested for Co simply due financial stringencies of BCL, yet both Airstrip and Dibete lie within the JV boundary, and that is where recent drilling has been done, with exceptional results for copper and silver, and apparently no cobalt tests even then, though cobalt has been recorded there by earlier holders . The 2015 annuals for BCL are worth a re-read: conclusion reproduced below.....
"RESOURCE CALCULATION AND SCOPING STUDY: Subsequent to receiving the results of the 2014 drilling program, Joint Venture partners BCL Limited and Botswana Metals Limited appointed consulting company MSA Group (“MSA”) to prepare an initial resource calculation for the Maibele North project. A maiden JORC compliant Inferred Resource Estimate for the sulphide portion of the Maibele North ore was received early in 2015 (Figure 3). At a 0.3% Ni cut-off the resource stands at: Cut-off (%Ni) Tonnes (Mt) Ni (%) Cu (%) Pt (g/t) Pd (g/t) Rh (g/t) Ru (g/t) Au (g/t) 0.30 2.38 0.72 0.21 0.08 0.36 0.04 0.05 0.10 The resource was highly encouraging and has the potential to improve given that: No historic drilling was included in the estimate due to QA/QC issues. Drill hole MARD0094, which intersected 6.82m @ 0.75% Ni and 0.25%Cu, was not included and lies some 250m east of the current resource. No oxide mineralisation has been included in the calculation due to insufficient metallurgical testing on this material. Significant levels of cobalt occur in the Maibele North mineralisation yet cobalt has not been included in the resource estimate. It is anticipated that the inclusion of cobalt will add valuable credits to the Maibele North ore and the resource is to be upgrade with the cobalt grade in due course. Numerous untested geophysical conductors lie along strike, and adjacent to, the existing resource and show signatures reminiscent of sulphide mineralisation similar to that at Maibele North. The orebody is open along strike to the east and west as well as at depth and lies within a 2.4km long ....." (the highlighting is mine).
BML report of 02/03/2017 notes cobalt assays from holes at Airstrip, viz. Hole # ACRC006 917 ppm Co, and #22 1020 ppm, as well as Hole 0015 at Maibele which had a top Co read of 4790 ppm over a small intersection.
As said above, I'm surprised Co tests were not run in the recent Airstrip/Dibete programs.
The same report highlights some earlier Co readings from Maibele....
"HOLE INTERVAL (m) GRADE (ppm) FROM (m) MADD57 26.00m 891ppm 94m including 6.47m 1145ppm including 9.57m 1169ppm MADD58 29.00m 565ppm 125m including 1.85m 1451ppm including 1.43m 1392ppm MADD59 19.00m 595ppm 68m including 0.80m 2155ppm including 1.00m 1373ppm MADD86 12.32m 625ppm 125m MADD82 9.80m 986ppm 100m MADD78 7.30m 533ppm 103m MADD85 6.95m 1003ppm 132m MADD63 1.27m 1079ppm 171m MADD147 0.50m 3200ppm 189m MADD129 1.00m 1300ppm 200m TABLE 1 – HIGHLIGHTS FROM PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED COBALT intercepts."
The BML report of 05/06/2017 (titled "BML Cobalt Results") released prior to SI6 taking over is also relevant, though -as with all these sources- it is old news, but is perhaps being overlooked at present.
I am sure a new or revised direction for SI6 will -if it eventuates- go a long way to improving holders' prospects, but the existing assets will, I trust, be followed up as well. The cobalt readings are not DRC by any stretch, but as a bi-product they are far more valuable at today's prices than they were during the BCL tenure.
Regards to all.
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