From my understanding, it depends on what he knows at the time...

From my understanding, it depends on what he knows at the time (and probably more importantly, what can be proven). As long as he doesn't have market sensitive information at the time of purchase and it's not a director blackout period, he is ok. We all knew that drilling results were due. As long as they were still with the lab and he hadn't seen them, he could argue that he wasn't in the possession of any price sensitive information at the time. And today, that announcement was totally lacking in details. We all know that the scoping study is being reviewed and improved and is still a work in progress. As long as he didn't have a consultant's report saying bags were cheaper than containers at the time of purchase, there shouldn't be an issue.

There's a little hot copper furphy about directors not being able to buy for a week or two before any price sensitive announcements. That is only applicable for scheduled announcements which the directors know are going to be made, like quarterlies etc. In those cases, the directors know the exact date in advance.