However, there is the another approach. Once you've found the mineralization, just keep drilling the same area time and time again. I'm going to call this the "Poliquin" method after the stunning drilling program at El Cobre.
Let's look at the drilling over time....
Jan 2017
Some great results.... |
| Efficient planning, lots of holes from the same platform |
May 2017
More great results.... |
| Not much different.... |
July, 2017
Seasonal variation, drilling from south to north. Why didn't I think of that!
August, 2017
Yawn, different month, same shit |
| heck, can you fit any more hole in there |
But look, that section looks virginal.
 |
| Like Stormy Daniels... |
September, 2017
At fecking last, a hole drilled 45m away from another on!!!!!
A massive 45m...
 |
| Keep it easy, drill the same stuff twice |
So all we are missing are the holes that will be drilled from East to West and from West to East, like this....
 |
| Yellow - Hilary and Trinity drilling; Cyan - Wold cup disappointment and Michaelmas drilling |
Other targets
Why break a winning formula, Almadex is doing the same elsewhere - here is El Porvenir.
 |
| Hey, they hit some stuff between other holes with stuff in them. Amazing! |
and Raya Tembrillo
 |
| It's almost art, the beautiful symmetry |
It is so nice that Almadex are minimizing the surface impact from drilling by carefully recycling their drill-pads. Personally, I'm going to vote for them in the "most holes from a single platform" award category at the PDAC this year, and as a show of solidarity, I'm going to show my support by using less toilet paper to wipe my arse.
Why is this a problem? Almadex can keep pumping out great press releases every month, but like the boy who cried wolf, they'll eventually have to do a resource calculation that will show that El Cobre is a Wonderbra project, where lots and lots of well-(metal) endowed drill-holes will produce a resource that is a lot smaller than expected.
I understand on a first pass to drill 6 holes from 1 pad to confirm structure Y and grade
ReplyDeletethen step out for the famous Z by 50 m ever phase
With porphyry deposits you can be a bit more adventurous. The problem here is that Almadex have drilled the same mineralization twice.
DeleteDoes this mean that it is very small and they just want to get lots of nice intercepts, or they are 'still' drilling for structure
It depends on the deposit. Porphyry systems should be robust enough that you can do 100m to 200m step out to determine the potential size of the system.
ReplyDeleteIt's not unheard of to radially drill from one pad over the top of potassic alteration in a porphyry system as multiple cylinder-like ore bodies could flank it. That said, the drill work at El Cobre so far looks a bit half-assed.
Deletefunny isn't it
ReplyDelete