Hey Vespasian, thanks for another great critical analysis of a...

Hey Vespasian, thanks for another great critical analysis of a @Kalenn post. Did you read it? I did. Here's what I reckon...

Kalenn's statements in quotation marks.


"You can see from the above grade distribution map that the bulk of this plateau grouping, the western side, is 46.5% and above, probably averages above 50%. The interesting thing about the eastern side is the 'why' of the lower grade."

Not wanting to be too picky but it is the eastern side which is higher grade.


"The previous tenement owners, CAL, where focused on an alumina refinery onsite. They had theorized that the edges of plateaux were diminished in grade and thickness (this theory is discussed in the SRK 2009 report)."

"The old CAL had a theory that bauxite ore bodies were dropping in thickness and grade as they approached the plateau edges/boundaries.  You can see from this photo that the theory may well be wrong as the ore body is still high grade and deep. My guess is 50% grade and 8 metres minimum true thickness."

From the 2009 report, page 62:


So you've got a heap of bauxite scree down the side of the hill and some surmise, falsely, that the bauxite is thicker than it really is on the edges.


"While some drillers may well have good knowledge, in CAL's case they started making mistakes on the eastern sides of the plateaus and as a consequence holes have been sterilized out of resource calculations."

So if I'm clear, CAL had a team of left-handed drillers which could only drill correctly on one side of a plateau.


"This meant the grade and resource size had to be averaged down. In short, if this theory above is correct, when Canyon come along and do the infill drilling (currently in progress) we will see deeper ore bodies on most plateaus, higher grades in some areas than expected, and overall a much larger resource."

The only point on which I might agree is increased depth, not because CAL had a different aim, but because the auger drilling did not (could not?) drill to floor in most cases. I would however point out that SiO2 seems to increase with depth so you might get more but it may not be as good.


"Daniel plateau is a second possible starting point, it's 150 million tonnes on its own and runs for 9 kilometres across both Minim-Martap and Birsok tenements."

The Danielle resource is 115Mt unless @Kalenn has updated information.


"Canyon are going to have a premium product that will be sought after. Keeping in mind that they front on to the Atlantic basin, which means there will be low freight rates to the gulf, south America and north America, there will be additional dollars end up in share holders coffers as we will not have to freight all the way to China."

Tell me @Kalenn why someone in North America would pay the same for CAY bauxite as would the Chinese when they know that the shipping cost to North America is half of that to China?


"With the facility to direct load Panamax and trans-ship to Cape size if a client requires":

Surely @Kalenn it is cheaper to ship Panamax to anywhere on the globe than to trans-ship and go Capesize? Metro Mining costed trans-shipment at AU$9 per tonne in the DFS didn't they?