No worries, with further drilling I am expecting quite a significant resource upgrade itself, and then a bigger upgrade in the Indicated and Measured category, but the drill bit will need to do the talking. What I am hoping for more than anything in the upgrade, especially for the DFS, is that in the open cut section there will be a significant upgrade, because in the underground section I would be expecting an upgrade anyway. Profit there will then drive further exploration/development etc etc befor going underground IMO.
If we go back to the Feb Ann 2018, when they just looked at the historical SAMREC data and converted the resource back to a Jorc 2012 Code they upgraded the resource itself in that transfer itself (when the consultants looked at the historical data - Post #: 30821101). So with expect more resource with further drilling. All IMO
A key comment in the Feb Ann - page 14 and 15 - was this which suggests upside:
"Only 42 historic holes (“B series”), drilled in 1989 by diamond core, have been deemed to be of satisfactory quality to be used in the resource estimation process. These samples were assayed by conventional fire assay technique and the collar positions located and surveyed in the field. The other 51 historic holes lack accurate information and assay techniques and prohibit being used for defining the resources. The samples were mainly analysed using mercury amalgamation methods that resulted in about 25% less Au than the conventional fire assay technique. They however have been added to the current model update (outside of the Adidi resource area) for estimating the exploration potential."
and this gem from that Ann which gives the upside on the 15 MT already that found its way to the Inferred and Indicated category - page 22
"Areas of unclassified mineralisation currently defined by wide-spaced drilling (200mx200m spacing and above) extending up to 4km alongstrike with widths of 400-600m with multiple veins are considered by Vector to represent an exploration target range of between 16 and 27 million tonnes at between 4.7 and 7.8 g/t for 2.4 and 6.8 million ounces."
And finally this paragraph page 23 is important as the consultants were recommending further drilling themselves because they felt the spacings in the other drilling program, noting all drills were not used in the 2012 JORC estimate, may have been too wide so they even said more drilling required. Hence they took a conservative viewpoint in the assessement and despite that found more resource when they converted Samrec to JORC LOL.
"There is good confidence in the data quality, drilling methods and analytical results. The available geology and assay data correlate well and the geological continuity has been demonstrated. However, the grade continuity has not been demonstrated to date and closer spaced drilling is required to improve the understanding of the grade continuity in both strike and dip directions. This increased data density is also required to improve the definition of grades across the strike of the mineralised shear zone in an east-west direction."
All IMO IMO IMO, but readers shouldn't just think we will be heading straight to mining, a bit more work in drilling required for input into a DFS, then funding, then bingo or a lifelong subscription to endless supply of VB will occur LOL. Risk/reward, and time will tell.