Yep the distances involved are part of the story, another is...

Yep the distances involved are part of the story, another is that at automatic core saws usually require 3 phase AC power, possibly not going to get that at the Walford Creek camp, unless they have a massive genset on site. Smaller brick saws can be used but they are much more labour intensive and slower to cut core. Transporting core on dirt roads without unnecessarily damaging it is also a consideration, remember this core may need to be looked at by geotechnical people in the future, for either pit wall designs or underground geotecnical studies so you can't just slap a lid on it and sent it down the track at 100km hour on the back of a ute...

So thats the logistics and sampling side of things, the other would be that the nearest commercial lab may be located in either Mt Isa (sample prep only?) or Townsville or Brisbane or Darwin. Other mineral explorers are getting busy as well, with the peak dry season exploration effort in full swing for northern Australia, so the labs aren't exactly quiet at the moment.....