Monday, August 22, 2016

Dark Star - an Update

Last week Gold Standard Ventures released some new assay results from Dark Star (link), and by some fluke I managed to be correct with my predicted grades for hole 16-03B. Here is a plan map with the new results.

New results highlighted

The Good - Drill-hole 16-03B - intersected 101.2m @ 1.5 g/t Au.

The results from 16-03B came in very close to what was predicted (I was lucky), and extends Au mineralization to the south by ~100 m. We have a high grade core (32.3m @ 2.87 g/t Au) surrounded by low grade mineralization (~0.8 g/t Au). This is OK, and is similar to what we have seen from the drilling at the other deposits.

Nice assays and not too deep.
Here is a long section down the axis of the deposit.

We can see that the gold grades are gradually dropping off from the high grade core (hole 16-08) out into a medium to low grade halo, and some narrow zones of gold occuring along the Dark Star fault.


but...

The Bad - Hole 16-01 was a disaster!


Oh dear, Hole 16-01 was a disaster, all it hit was a few narrow, low grade zones. It was drilled just 60m from hole DS15-10 (149.4m at 1.38 g/t Au (link) and I was hoping that we would see something similar to the main Dark Star deposit, a gradual decrease in grade. In reality we have done from lots of gold to zero, nada, zilch!

This is what I had before:

Yeah, gold going on forever!
and now....

ohh, crap, that wasn't meant to happen!

Where did all the gold go?

It is amazing what a single hole can do! If hole 16-01 is correct, then it appears to show the gold is restricted to a narrow corridor (~150m wide) running from hole 15-10 to 16-03B (and a bit beyond). 

GSV will need to drill some holes to the west of 16-08 and 16-03B to make sure that the results from drill-hole 16-01 were a fluke. If not, it means that North Dark Star is very small, and if DS16-022 and 023 don;t hit anything good, then the party is over!

This is my very generous gold grade shells.



What I would like to see Gold Standard do is:
  • Drill a couple of holes to the west of holes 16-03B and 08 to hopefully show that the results from hole 16-01 was a fluke (see map above).
  • More holes between 03B and DS16-06, 08 and 22 as you have a 200m x 200m zone with a couple of vertical holes that may miss the high grade zone.
  • More angle core holes! Stop with the vertical RC holes. I know they are quick and cheap, but you want as much, high quality data as you can get.
I've put the new results into my model to see what is going on (link). You you can have a look at the results.

It is amazing what a single hole can do!

11 comments:

  1. Hi, What about the gold that has been discovered so far. Worthless? Not economic to mine?
    I am a stockholder and am trying to understand your excellent work but it is confusing to a layman such as myself. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Confused.
      The gold isn't worthless, but all of the deposits appear to be small, if you look at PoGo's comment below, there isn't a very large deposit - which is what we would like to see, but a series of small deposits that are probably too small to be ever mined.
      GSV appear to be aware of this. They explore around the known deposits, review the old data, drill - get some good results (do they target the high grade zones defined by earlier drilling to maximise the impact of their press releases?), but at North Bullion, Central Zone, Pinion, Bald Mountain, the gold zones appear to be small and don't ever coalesce into a big deposit, so GSV move on to the next prospect and so on...

      Basically - the gold at Railroad/Pinion appears to be in a number of small, medium-low grade deposits that are probably too small to be mined.

      thanks for the feedback, I'll make future posts less technical so that people can understand them.

      Delete
    2. if you want to chat directly, you can e-mail me at theangrygeologist@gmail.com and I can answer any questions you have.

      Delete
  2. Thank you once again for great article and for the reply to my comment on your other article regarding TGD's ana paula deposit.
    GSV has had a great run but when i commented on one article in SA to book some profit, they got angry as hell. I made the same point i made here, that the same management seems to being putting some great holes and after a while that just cools down and then they move on to another area.
    I was a shareholder when it was drilling north bullion and bald mountain, central zone. they had some great results but that was all. then they moved to pinon and made some news, then again moved to dark star.
    hope its not a de ja vu moment.....
    thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the next round of results will tell us if there is anything at North Dark Star. I'm guesstimating that there is a potential for up to 0.5 Moz Au at 0.75 h/t Au, which is in-line with the resources at the other deposits.

      It does look like history is repeating itself...

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  3. Otto Man (MT) at Inca Kola points out Orezone today (ORE.v) down another 14% on massive volume. Specifically he alludes to the damn near criminal relationship betwix SRX in Toronto and the dopes at the big brokerages. In a nutshell the major league financing was a month ago and OMG now the news is all about a 30% cut in resources.

    WTF indeed we say in angry agreement. Gonna profile it, just to follow the action a bit better. (not because I'd ever buy the total chit, pffft) Naturally the corporate azzholes at ORE.v have pulled that OH SO CRITICAL presentation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder if anyone will have a look at any more SRK reports (e.g. Dalradian)

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  4. Mr. TAG,
    It does seem so. I do not wish bad upon any investor but as a previous GSV shareholder, giving any comment besides positive ones seems to be not a welcome gesture. Even the writer in SA article called my comment pathetic and so on. Thought my thinking would help people see that a 600 million market cap is no joke and major wanting to buy it at premium on top of that lofty valuation seems absurd.
    It was IKN that helped me get to your site and I am thankful to him and also you for allowing me to put my opinion without any negative feedback.
    looking forward to your Ana Paula review.
    thank you
    NS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A lot of people have an interest in the company doing well as it is one of the darlings of this mini-boom in the resource sector.

      So, taking todays market cap of GSV = US$507M
      Total resources (all categories) = 2.1M oz Au
      Gold standard are valued at US$241/oz

      Lets take a small gold mining company, say Goldcorp.

      They have a market cap of US$13.69B, and corrent gold reserves and resources (all categories) of 96.93M oz Au.
      They are valued at US$141.2/resource ounce (i'm ignoring the fact that GG have mines and actually produce a bit of gold).

      So per ounce of contained gold, GSV are worth more than Goldcorp with all their mines, gold resources (that most are better than Pinion-Railroad).

      So are GSV overvalued or GG undervalued?

      Delete
  5. Mr. TAG,
    I been trying to relate the same message as you are. You have a technical acumen and a fundamental too and appreciate you teaching us.Thank you again. we, i believe appreciate your work a lot. I did a relative valuation check to see if TGD was good relative to mux and gsv, and felt that TGD was better investment at current prices.

    The fact that lot of investors sentiment towards GSV is that it is a buyout candidate and major will be willing to pay a premium on top of its mkt cap is not realistic.
    you work hard and provide us free reports on various deposits, which you believe will help people make better decisions. I too believe that having a realistic expectation will also help in making good investment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello PoGo, I think you are correct with your logic for me MUX and GSV are overpriced compared to their peers and the major mining companies (where I still feel there is good value - Teck has been my big winner this year followed by Freeport).

      Delete