tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62727933775042215692024-03-17T20:04:09.594-07:00Angry GeologistThe Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.comBlogger203125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-85523537258855111662020-08-30T13:04:00.000-07:002020-08-30T13:04:04.841-07:00VizslaVizsla Resources share prices have been rocketing up recently on the back of some very juicy drill results (<a href="https://www.vizslaresources.com/news/vizsla-makes-third-discovery-drilling-1019-gt-silver-equiv-over-25-metres-at-papayo-1-km-north-of-napoleon-discovery-at-panuco-mexico">link</a> and <a href="https://www.vizslaresources.com/news/vizsla-makes-second-discovery-drilling-1245-gt-silver-equiv-over-15-metres-within-421-gt-silver-equiv-over-675-metres-at-panuco-mexico">link</a>) from their Copala project in Sinaloa, but is there more to the story than just a few hot holes or have they managed to consolidate a world-class mining district?<div><br /></div><div>TL:DR version - No<div><br /></div><div><div>What really interests me is that Vizsla keep telling us this:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FWYOscUWayw/X0vobTmYElI/AAAAAAAAENA/61Xv_vBU320AA5Ixx9ox2ezkcEfslYuqwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1035/Viz%2B-%2Bno%2Bhist%2Bexploration.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="1035" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FWYOscUWayw/X0vobTmYElI/AAAAAAAAENA/61Xv_vBU320AA5Ixx9ox2ezkcEfslYuqwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Viz%2B-%2Bno%2Bhist%2Bexploration.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Never been systematically explored? We have these maps in Vizsla's own PRs and presentations:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w3gLIZYxVA8/X0v5RScBx8I/AAAAAAAAEO0/mRg1wwa_IWYsB9rIWpKwITKt7hWKZslrgCLcBGAsYHQ/s926/clemens%2B1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="926" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w3gLIZYxVA8/X0v5RScBx8I/AAAAAAAAEO0/mRg1wwa_IWYsB9rIWpKwITKt7hWKZslrgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/clemens%2B1.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--RZAdZKN4qI/X0v5RfvKPuI/AAAAAAAAEOw/fGzcFV_0rAQZP3rKA2O_dAm9jE7TU-INwCLcBGAsYHQ/s902/la%2Bcolorada.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="902" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--RZAdZKN4qI/X0v5RfvKPuI/AAAAAAAAEOw/fGzcFV_0rAQZP3rKA2O_dAm9jE7TU-INwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/la%2Bcolorada.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hbXzBnl6CnY/X0v5RQgn-MI/AAAAAAAAEOs/8jw3U0HVsO8k3s1wBKOFZ5B6V9cQWl_WQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1401/lots%2Bof%2Bdrilling.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="1401" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hbXzBnl6CnY/X0v5RQgn-MI/AAAAAAAAEOs/8jw3U0HVsO8k3s1wBKOFZ5B6V9cQWl_WQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/lots%2Bof%2Bdrilling.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>We have 2 areas with historic resources and a long section of the Animas vein with >100 holes on it. Maybe the drilling was done by the mine operator? Fortunately, Vizsla give us a helping hand and tell us at the bottom of the Panuco project page (just before the photos).</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5l2_fGaTRGs/X0v5w3uud0I/AAAAAAAAEPE/zJfaCtuINfsdvXV2FeOluewsNyQgzUUtQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1048/Cop%2B-%2Bref.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="136" data-original-width="1048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5l2_fGaTRGs/X0v5w3uud0I/AAAAAAAAEPE/zJfaCtuINfsdvXV2FeOluewsNyQgzUUtQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Cop%2B-%2Bref.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div><div>So, I went over to Sedar and downloaded the report. A full 100 pages of geological fun, which gently summarized the historic, non-systemaic work done by Silverstone, who only managed to drill:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IpJxwZZ5pbo/X0v62SCikxI/AAAAAAAAEPY/u1fGkZe9ZksCaYZa10FiHq-MjKwa-Q1eQCLcBGAsYHQ/s486/cop%2Bres.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="486" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IpJxwZZ5pbo/X0v62SCikxI/AAAAAAAAEPY/u1fGkZe9ZksCaYZa10FiHq-MjKwa-Q1eQCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/cop%2Bres.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div>Thta's only 21,641m in 200 holes. I'm guessing that Vizsla forgot about these holes. My guess is that the core doesn't exist anymore, or that looking at the long section above a chunk of the Clemes/Muerto zone was mined, and if we have a look at them, we see:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3owjOaHFGRc/X0v6vPLwSkI/AAAAAAAAEPQ/bpiTixgg0Xw_FLlid8fAbZIfLHMpFyBwgCLcBGAsYHQ/s928/col%2Bres.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="928" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3owjOaHFGRc/X0v6vPLwSkI/AAAAAAAAEPQ/bpiTixgg0Xw_FLlid8fAbZIfLHMpFyBwgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/col%2Bres.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nlNWN-4f5bY/X0v6vMtFWCI/AAAAAAAAEPU/vQiDxAsaUEcf5SYblJJWX_WSuE7LYcRlQCLcBGAsYHQ/s875/cop%2B-%2Bres%2B1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="875" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nlNWN-4f5bY/X0v6vMtFWCI/AAAAAAAAEPU/vQiDxAsaUEcf5SYblJJWX_WSuE7LYcRlQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/cop%2B-%2Bres%2B1.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>That they are a bit shite! Silverstone only managed to drill >21km of drilling in 2 holes and defined a small, low grade resource. Why?</div><div><br /></div><div>We have 2 options:</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Silverstone were crap, and managed to drill all the shite areas again and again</li><li>The mineralization at Copala is hosted in very small high-grade ore-shoots</li></ol>
<div>Let us not question the competence of Silverstone, and focus on the second point - small, inconsistent zone of mineralization. We can look for this in a number of ways:</div><div><br /></div><div>
<b>Directly</b></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>High-grade mineralization restricted to 1 or 2 holes surrounded by lots of nothing</li><li>high-grade intervals not joining up - the vein's the same, but suddenly the silver and gold have gone on holiday to a narrow foot-wall or hanging-wall vein</li></ul><div>Here is a long section from the Honduras vein at Copala</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-icojc_DQzRU/X0v_GEgd41I/AAAAAAAAEPo/V-oc7uUaLiIQYQjDvsBb3ioBIBbWeelWgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1051/Drill%2Bsection%2B-%2Bhonduras.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="1051" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-icojc_DQzRU/X0v_GEgd41I/AAAAAAAAEPo/V-oc7uUaLiIQYQjDvsBb3ioBIBbWeelWgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Drill%2Bsection%2B-%2Bhonduras.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Look at the scale - holes AM-20-08 is only 50m from holes 09, 10, and 11. We go from good to nothing in 50m. </div><div><br /></div><div>We see the same at the Napoleon discovery</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V44OZyh0Ffk/X0wB-qTODrI/AAAAAAAAEP0/0dSPUWHFC8IH5whx-cXxi7Qp0nG2fKS0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1300/napo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="1300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V44OZyh0Ffk/X0wB-qTODrI/AAAAAAAAEP0/0dSPUWHFC8IH5whx-cXxi7Qp0nG2fKS0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/napo.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>There are some good drill-holes here, and the drilling here is at its early stage, but we can see that the high-grade intercepts are jumping from structure. We can also see that the "F" and "G" veins don;t appear to be very continuous, as they aren't intersected by hole NP-20-07 just 20m away.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Indirectly</b></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>"Missing" intervals - we see on a map or section "waiting assay results", but the results never arrive</li><li>"Missing holes" - were have the results for holes 01, 02, 05, 09 - WFT happened to holes 03, 04 and 06 --> they hot feck all is what happened.</li></ul><div>Missing holes can also be expanded into an entire drill program going AWOL - this means all the holes were crap, and the company doesn't want to hurt everyone's feelings.</div></div>
<br /></div>
<div>So, going through the technical report (you can download it from<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sQfmYQ83_LqtlUVgKwx5OBLyI-N4Xeea/view?usp=sharing"> here</a>), there is a table of all the narrow, high-grade hits (table 13.1)</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dxcBwqBtOAs/X0wDK87n2PI/AAAAAAAAEQA/fdnAwebVqroUgdMwRMnxUM33FnNJvK_rgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1365/cop%2Bhiyts.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="451" data-original-width="1365" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dxcBwqBtOAs/X0wDK87n2PI/AAAAAAAAEQA/fdnAwebVqroUgdMwRMnxUM33FnNJvK_rgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/cop%2Bhiyts.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>This is just the first few intervals, there are 3 more pages for you to look at, but they look very similar to what Vizsla are getting and this is what they got:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fx5nG5uvkDA/X0wDeUg3Q_I/AAAAAAAAEQI/EWsP7_WfwL4FQxBdiRb6VGKRIo48Fr0JQCLcBGAsYHQ/s875/cop%2B-%2Bres%2B1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="875" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fx5nG5uvkDA/X0wDeUg3Q_I/AAAAAAAAEQI/EWsP7_WfwL4FQxBdiRb6VGKRIo48Fr0JQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/cop%2B-%2Bres%2B1.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>This is crap for an underground mine, 370Kt @ 370 g/t AgEq, you can't do much with that.I hope Vizsla do find some massive ore-bodies, but the data presented by Silverstone and what we're seeing in the initial 2020 drilling data is that the high-grade mineralization is found is discrete, small ore-shoots.</div><div><br /></div><div>One final comment, we're told this on the website:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L0S4Qqd6awM/X0wFGD-KrbI/AAAAAAAAEQU/sYHiY8DqatIyLM27dLTD91BcE7brOLdUACLcBGAsYHQ/s756/Viz%2B-%2Bproduction.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="756" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L0S4Qqd6awM/X0wFGD-KrbI/AAAAAAAAEQU/sYHiY8DqatIyLM27dLTD91BcE7brOLdUACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Viz%2B-%2Bproduction.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>How much are the mines producing? How big is the mill? Surely Vizsla will have some historic production figures to support the $23M purchase price?</div><div><br /><div>BTW - Vizsla - Fresnillo don't own the Zacatecas district. Pan American and Capstone have a good chunk and ~50% was just sold by Santacruz silver to Zacatecas Silver earlier this year. You may want to correct that.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-68132286149477455512020-06-16T21:44:00.002-07:002020-09-14T17:12:47.017-07:00Havieron, Greatland GoldI apologize for the delay, basically I've been lazy and catching up with some personal projects during the 'ronavirus crisis.<br />
<br />
Sticking with the Patterson Range, I've manage to compile the drilling data for Greatland's Haverion project, currently being drilled by Newcrest with 9 rigs.<br />
<br />
An updated Leapfrog viewer file can be got from here (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/18CFZkzOpZWAtxV539FFAPoc1qhKD1n_d/view?usp=sharing">link</a>)*, so you can have a look at the data in 3D.<br />
<br />
At first pass, the data suggests that Greatland/Newcrest have found a good deposit, but we want to dig a little deeper to see:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Size and grade potential</li>
<li>Possible issues and questions</li>
<li>Regional upside</li>
</ol>
<h3>
Geology</h3>
<div>
Feel free to ignore this section, it is dull.</div>
<div>
<br />
Here is a long section of the deposit, showing the Au and Cu distribution<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zFookP-iL60/XulFbUdA8XI/AAAAAAAAELE/lpnYRTkZXUwneAAQFwOJAu7JqQERValBgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Havieron%2BGrade%2BShells.JPG"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zFookP-iL60/XulFbUdA8XI/AAAAAAAAELE/lpnYRTkZXUwneAAQFwOJAu7JqQERValBgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Havieron%2BGrade%2BShells.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
We can see that the mineralization is a long-way down. We have ~400m of post-mineral Permian cover rocks (young rocks for WA).<br />
<br />
We can see that the highest copper grades are found at the contact with the Permian rocks (maybe some localized supergene enrichment?) whereas with gold you do get some high-grade (>2.5 g/t Au) throughout the deposit.<br />
<br />
We can also see that the Au-Cu mineralization is restricted to a breccia with some high grade narrow intercepts related to sulphide veins, this appears to be similar to what is seen at Telfer, just with a big difference.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qDs-gSh4574/Xul7FgFEWzI/AAAAAAAAELc/ilUT_x3pl3Q6GlGDm520Y5p-1GRAc24yACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Hav%2Bdep%2Bmodel.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qDs-gSh4574/Xul7FgFEWzI/AAAAAAAAELc/ilUT_x3pl3Q6GlGDm520Y5p-1GRAc24yACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Hav%2Bdep%2Bmodel.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Figure from GSDRPT 97 by Govt of WA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
At Telfer they had stratabound quartz-sulphide reefs, it would be interesting to see if the high-grade crescent sulphide zone is actually one of these stratabound zones or formed through the deformation of the breccia into the crescent shape shown on the plan map below?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1rxnBOBCVk4/Xul7z1saIuI/AAAAAAAAELw/EMVpPailZA80kTvuyCOXZdCQuGFzLuO9wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Haverion%2BPlan.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1rxnBOBCVk4/Xul7z1saIuI/AAAAAAAAELw/EMVpPailZA80kTvuyCOXZdCQuGFzLuO9wCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Haverion%2BPlan.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">It is a very busy map</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
From the plan map and mineral distribution we can see the core area, where we have thick intervals of high-grade mineralization and 2 narrow limbs of high-grade intercepts continuing to the NW. Core area, probably at the nose of fold/deformation zone, with 2 narrow, but high-grade (>1% Cu) limbs striking to the NW.<br />
<br /></div>
<h3>
G&T</h3>
<div>
We've had lots of holes drilled into Havieron, at least 60 holes so far, so I'm expecting that we should see an initial resource estimate some time this year, so taking the available data, this is what I've come up with:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ti_NSYaYHI/Xul95LyrBaI/AAAAAAAAEMA/iS2UnPAKeXAg8YopKGixAVi8xqDaE2MvwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/res.JPG"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ti_NSYaYHI/Xul95LyrBaI/AAAAAAAAEMA/iS2UnPAKeXAg8YopKGixAVi8xqDaE2MvwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/res.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
You can see that at Haverion there is a bit of copper, but essentially it is a gold project, depending on the cut-off grades used, I think 100Mt @ 1 g/t Au and 0.5% Cu is a good start. Is it a bit small to develop on its own, maybe, but it is only ~50km from Telfer that the ore could be transported to the Telfer mill for processing which would minimize CAPEX.<br />
<h3>
Potential Problems</h3>
Looking through the data, one thing that I saw was a lot of grade smearing, especially in the drill-holes that intersected mineralization peripheral to the Crescent zone.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H42D2qiinsM/Xul_OpWC1OI/AAAAAAAAEMM/wdnb096zGWQWIqBStetwjLaJRES6fq2UwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Hav%2BSHIT%2Bintercepts.JPG"><img border="0" height="366" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H42D2qiinsM/Xul_OpWC1OI/AAAAAAAAEMM/wdnb096zGWQWIqBStetwjLaJRES6fq2UwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Hav%2BSHIT%2Bintercepts.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
The right-hand section is going through the core of the Crescent zone and left hand section is from the NW continuation of the breccia zone, with hole HAD066 reporting the PR banner intercept of 82.1m @ 2.4 g/t Au.<br />
<br />
In the core of the Crescent zone, I'm less concerned and the UHG veins/zones are generally wide and often surrounded by breccias grading > 1g/t Au, but the biog issue I see, and one that to me, limits the size potential at Haverion is the continuation of wide zones of economic mineralization outside of the core Crescent zone, and drill-hole HAD-066 summarizes it quite well:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>HAD066 - 82.1m @ 2.4 g/t Au inc.</li>
<ul>
<li>0.2 @ 59 g/t Au</li>
<li>1.5m @ 86 g/t Au</li>
</ul>
</ul>
If we remove those narrow high-grade zones the grade of the surrounding breccias decrease from 2.4 g/t Au down to just 0.7 g/t Au, a 70% decrease. This suddenly changes HAD066 from intersecting a wide-zone of economic mineralization to just a couple of narrow high-grade hits in a sea of low-grade waste.<br />
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It appears to indicate that the breccias do continue to the NW, but they don't appear to be economic, and to me, limits the size potential of Haverion. It still appears to be a decent size, the mineralization appears to be open to depth (but will require very deep drilling).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Regional Exploration</h3>
<div>
Virtually all of the exploration to date has focused on Haverion but there do appear to be other interesting targets in the area that look interesting</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OxB3NGsZqko/Xumd3o6mnJI/AAAAAAAAEMY/Q-Pt14DTJgghsgwB-LwVi0z-CXpsAYVKQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Hav%2Bregional.JPG"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OxB3NGsZqko/Xumd3o6mnJI/AAAAAAAAEMY/Q-Pt14DTJgghsgwB-LwVi0z-CXpsAYVKQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Hav%2Bregional.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Haverion body is a nice magnetic high, and we can see several other similar features on the regional magnetic data shown in Greatland's presentation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For me, Kraken looks very interesting. It has a similar magnetic anomaly to Havieron, , whereas London and Blackbeard appear, to me, to be picking out a folded magnetic unit with the metaseds of the Paterson Range rock package.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<div>
It is great discovery by Greatland Gold, there are potentially excellent synergies with Telfer, that, in my opinion, make this deposit an excellent take-over target for Newcrest. I'll be following the drill results closely and I would like to see a few holes stated to be drilled in the other targets to see if there are other breccia bodes in the area.<br />
<br />
*thank you to Tumshie, I had accidentally made the 1-2.5 g/t Au grade shell invisible.</div>
</div>
The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-6987551025816540992020-05-01T22:19:00.000-07:002020-05-01T22:19:21.758-07:00Winu - Exciting times in the Pilbara<br />
As I'm still getting back into the swing of things, and I want to have a look at some of the recent discoveries being made in the Paterson Province in Western Australia.<br />
<br />
If you want some background information on the geology and deposits of the area you can download an excellent summary on the geology and mineral deposits of that area (<a href="https://warmelpdstageodocspub.blob.core.windows.net/gswa-publications/gsdrpt97.pdf">link</a>) by the Geology Survey of Western Australia.<br />
<br />
Compared to many areas of Australia, the Patterson Province is relatively unexplored. Its remoteness to the traditional gold belts and iron ore zones to the SW and W meant that semi-detailed exploration didn't really commenced in this area in the 1960s.<br />
<br />
Early exploration in the 1970s and 1980s discovered 1 world-class deposit - Telfer Au-Cu mine (total production >10Moz Au) churning out >400Koz/year) and a couple of medium-sized copper deposits at Nifty (<a href="http://www.portergeo.com.au/database/mineinfo.asp?mineid=mn729">link</a>) and Maroochydore (<a href="http://www.portergeo.com.au/database/mineinfo.asp?mineid=mn1572">link</a>).<br />
<br />
So, it has been nice to read about a couple of the new, potentially large discoveries being made by Rio Tinto and Winu and Newcrest/Greatland Gold at Haverion.<br />
<br />
We'll start with Winu, and I was surprised that Rio have been publishing a lot of exploration data from Winu (<a href="https://www.riotinto.com/news/releases/winu-exploration-update-june-2019">link</a> and <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/en/news/releases/Project-update-Winu">link</a>), and so I've imported the data into Leapfrog to see what all the noise is about. You can get the Leapfrog model from here (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/14DRAXYufbh44V8ESh80SmmzhBBiJp-rB/view?usp=sharing">link</a>)<br />
<br />
We have lots of impressive intercepts, including:<br />
<ul>
<li>741m @ 0.45% Cu, 0.52 g/t Au</li>
<li>499m @ 0.4% Cu, 0.2 g/t Au</li>
<li>439m @ 0.42% Cu, 0.32 g/t Au</li>
<li>84m @ 0.62% Cu, 1.41 g/t Au</li>
</ul>
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mBzUAXiMuKk/Xqzgn41ZSiI/AAAAAAAAEJ8/QfTyXweI56gqEvvSCXamfce1U9Z8TZYVACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/xsection.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="392" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mBzUAXiMuKk/Xqzgn41ZSiI/AAAAAAAAEJ8/QfTyXweI56gqEvvSCXamfce1U9Z8TZYVACK4BGAYYCw/s640/xsection.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
A nice high-grade core surrounded by lower grade mineralization. There appears to be some zonation, with an Au-rich core surrounded by more Cu dominant mineralization, with minor silver, but no-one cares about that.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5LKyYxEdlOI/XqzkdB9v5iI/AAAAAAAAEKI/kCAJaj5Fs3o6SJhyErK7KOeSGzntl0w0wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Au-Cu.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5LKyYxEdlOI/XqzkdB9v5iI/AAAAAAAAEKI/kCAJaj5Fs3o6SJhyErK7KOeSGzntl0w0wCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Au-Cu.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
We can also see that the mineralization is relatively shallow, ~100-150m depth, but with all deposits, it is important to get a sense of scale. We see so many projects that have great grades but all that quality is concentrated in a tiny package, here we don't have that problem!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RUOkySzIHLE/Xqz_keqj5hI/AAAAAAAAEKU/jaeW6SINTjoQPoP6owuAqKCy9r_aCEbfACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/au%2Blength.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RUOkySzIHLE/Xqz_keqj5hI/AAAAAAAAEKU/jaeW6SINTjoQPoP6owuAqKCy9r_aCEbfACK4BGAYYCw/s640/au%2Blength.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
Rio have drilled decent mineralization over a 2km strike length, that is impressive, we can even have stab and seeing how much Rio have found....<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TP6DWKkl7ec/XoVG8ycFBeI/AAAAAAAAEJA/JdskosZi81Q-HnTEHWJv66CFKE0KB3oGACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Winu%2BResources.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="889" height="354" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TP6DWKkl7ec/XoVG8ycFBeI/AAAAAAAAEJA/JdskosZi81Q-HnTEHWJv66CFKE0KB3oGACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Winu%2BResources.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Pretty impressive, Rio appear to have found a large 500Mt, moderate grade ~0.5%CuEq Cu-Au deposit in the middle of nowhere. It is moderately deep (60-150m depth), there appears to be good potential to expand the mineralization to depth and along strike, so I will be see how this project evolves.<br />
<br />
However, one big question to ask is - is this project big enough for Rio? I would expect that they would want something that is 2-3 times larger for development.<br />
<br />
Next week - Havieron!<br />
<br />
<h3>
Some geology rubbish</h3>
<br />
In many other mineral districts companies have applied Zipf’s law to gauge their maturity - i.e. are there other deposits that have yet to be found.<br />
<br />
A simple rule of thumb would be the 80:20 rule - 80% of the resources are found in just 20% of the deposits or 2-3 big deposits, a few medium-sized, and and loads of tiny ones.<br />
<br />
Here are some examples from Davies el al (2018) - reference at bottom of post.<br />
<br />
Yilgarn Au deposits<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9yrHfLAW-e8/XqzPYdoiEEI/AAAAAAAAEJY/vPM5wo5A3W0QlktEYMVaBO3nZ4p5hMg6gCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Yilgarn.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9yrHfLAW-e8/XqzPYdoiEEI/AAAAAAAAEJY/vPM5wo5A3W0QlktEYMVaBO3nZ4p5hMg6gCK4BGAYYCw/s400/Yilgarn.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some massive deposits, quickly dropping down</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You can potentially use this plot to see if there are any gaps<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1z6tyyQqx6A/XqzQPVni0zI/AAAAAAAAEJk/exEbe-AWK6Q3OpCp0MQzuoZsg0400Fi1gCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/yil%2Bgaps.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1z6tyyQqx6A/XqzQPVni0zI/AAAAAAAAEJk/exEbe-AWK6Q3OpCp0MQzuoZsg0400Fi1gCK4BGAYYCw/s640/yil%2Bgaps.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Lets return to the Paterson Province<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B4raw6KZe20/XqzWQYXmMNI/AAAAAAAAEJw/BYQvOsECjgcvAFmzpdakbVr2x5D6YrfAQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Yil%2B-%2B2.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B4raw6KZe20/XqzWQYXmMNI/AAAAAAAAEJw/BYQvOsECjgcvAFmzpdakbVr2x5D6YrfAQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Yil%2B-%2B2.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
I've plotted on Telfer and Winu against a Zipf curve.<br />
<br />
It is very interesting, if this area follows the Zipf curve, we can see that there could be a couple of 2-3Moz Au deposits and maybe 4-5 >1Moz Au deposits lurking around. Lets see how Haverion fits in.<br />
<br />
It will also be interesting to see if someone will buy Telfer as Newcrest are open to offers (<a href="https://www.miningbusiness.net/content/newcrest-open-sale-telfer-gold-mine-update">link</a>)<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
References</h3>
<br />
Davies et al (2018) "Entering an immature exploration search space: Assessment of the potential<br />
orogenic gold endowment of the Sandstone Greenstone Belt, Yilgarn Craton,<br />
by application of Zipf’s law and comparison with the adjacent Agnew<br />
Goldfield" in Ore Geology Reviews Volume 94, March 2018, Pages 326-350<br />
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-39735975724978668742020-04-01T15:51:00.001-07:002020-04-02T06:56:17.004-07:00Pretium - Brucejack productionSo why should bad news be spread over a single post, we looked at the 'improved' resources, so now let us look at the mine production figures<br />
<br />
Pretium have done an excellent job with the mill upgrade<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TWTY2mqCkQM/XoUXaMugLVI/AAAAAAAAEIE/HvRbZHVg20MD7dJae3LDeex4MXLmFXDtwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/BJ%2BMill.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="781" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TWTY2mqCkQM/XoUXaMugLVI/AAAAAAAAEIE/HvRbZHVg20MD7dJae3LDeex4MXLmFXDtwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/BJ%2BMill.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
It has been consistently producing 5-10% above nameplate capacity, and they ramped up throughput to 3800 tpd on schedule.<br />
<br />
Recovery is still excellent:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aiwzgiGtvWo/XoUXaofSTaI/AAAAAAAAEIQ/RZdbF4ogk4U7wlm2KicRiZ_QkhSeDDNgQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/BJ%2BRecovery.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="781" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aiwzgiGtvWo/XoUXaofSTaI/AAAAAAAAEIQ/RZdbF4ogk4U7wlm2KicRiZ_QkhSeDDNgQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/BJ%2BRecovery.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
However, we see that mined grade is still way off the original Feasibility Study, approximately half that calculated by Tetratech.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mFz8abtxayo/XoUZApNEOBI/AAAAAAAAEIo/C6h47_dZnGskS0F3_gvvw9OwSRT0wsaDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/BJ%2B-%2Bgrades%2Bddd.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="918" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mFz8abtxayo/XoUZApNEOBI/AAAAAAAAEIo/C6h47_dZnGskS0F3_gvvw9OwSRT0wsaDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/BJ%2B-%2Bgrades%2Bddd.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Understandably, this has had a massive knock-on effect to the Au production.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VO6vdlwObME/XoUXaKQVrAI/AAAAAAAAEIM/wRFg1JuU-aoJQUOUz7HVWi-2-6LSFDbcQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/BJ%2BProd.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="1044" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VO6vdlwObME/XoUXaKQVrAI/AAAAAAAAEIM/wRFg1JuU-aoJQUOUz7HVWi-2-6LSFDbcQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/BJ%2BProd.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
We can see that it is way off, but why don't we plot on the latest reserve grades.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oDeTOZvJW7g/XoUZcL_PeBI/AAAAAAAAEIw/0TlKPq2ekMghoe3vpsk-YmxmTPA4r_O_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/BJ%2B-%2Bgrades.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="669" data-original-width="918" height="466" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oDeTOZvJW7g/XoUZcL_PeBI/AAAAAAAAEIw/0TlKPq2ekMghoe3vpsk-YmxmTPA4r_O_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/BJ%2B-%2Bgrades.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
You can see now that the new reserve grades is very close to the actual mine grades. It will be interesting to see of they can keep at this level.<br />
<br />
It will be interesting to see if Tetra Tech or Snowdon have any comments on why their 2013 and 2019 resource calculations were so different to mine production and latest resource estimates.<br />
<br />The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-69844108339467280592020-04-01T12:21:00.001-07:002020-04-01T12:21:44.806-07:00Pretium - Getting back into the swing of thingsSorry I've been away for so long, I've been working on a large project that has taken up all of my free time.<br />
<br />
I'm going to run through a few old projects, just to get up to speed<br />
<br />
1st up, that old favorite, Pretium Resources, we've had a lot of good times at Brucejack<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>A resource update (<a href="https://www.pretivm.com/news/news-release-details/2020/Pretivm-Updates-Brucejack-Mine-Mineral-Resource-Mineral-Reserve-and-Life-of-Mine-Plan/default.aspx">link</a>)</li>
<li>2019 operations update (<a href="https://www.pretivm.com/news/news-release-details/2020/Pretivm-Reports-2019-Results-Production-Outlook-and-Leadership-Transition-Plan/default.aspx">link</a>)</li>
<li>CEO resigning (<a href="https://www.pretivm.com/news/news-release-details/2020/Pretivm-Reports-2019-Results-Production-Outlook-and-Leadership-Transition-Plan/default.aspx">link</a>)</li>
</ul>
<div>
Let us first look at the updated resources!</div>
<h2>
TLDR version</h2>
<div>
What a fucking disaster!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>
Long version</h2>
<div>
We'll start with the good news</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Tonnage went up, apart from a small decrease in reserves!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oMm7rFTw6Nw/XoTn_gC9m0I/AAAAAAAAEHs/FziBH7i2Kr8K9-WL-YpnGlU6buaHjho_wCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoDvpRcsaK5bS9rbn7-CJ7sHCNaz-yqlrECgQMCyGdVFZP3w0DyvIg7XNPXbvb3VuvAWhWoo5IYLmXxQobAOJXaPHrNrDSBppeuekMj7YorrUk9GR3Rw7xEVgPvUzmd6JsCU3CbLbjI9A2sF8oEnd5airihjCGZrffKxaqNNmaG7iG36eguG_10ZI0p9ZxC3gWDShTZei3A7gV8mpM0YZG3VIjNU5wQLts6c5tlEHxyuDsQlPH7sV9OnKrF0qr2ct6hPptXCiCVyVQct3YnsKxOya3lYSSFt895qUmJdg5BWd-pQTyZgOlBp1VPFtEsNSte6P6HaZJrZ6RFlDqMiVlwKg_BGpQlbIoNcL02afFAEB5B57sje5cVsxMH9Hsq7cCx9Tic8C698CdTBt7nAj4t1jic8mvJXhT9QgGy3zLatJ4ynIlmEat1Gs-RW8Le4pkmIRKK9m8ZYSSBGauwyAtK9cw50RB8mHan8DsWUcJGbLIPbLZDgj7w8sFtI6tnKy1S7clQXtzbe_DNv0CJ0rR71xWoouUVNLjfMajbtJyqMgWWPyUjkhCrcRl5Os3N9xbWlaVSPtH8zx3vQCWHE3geNCHVpRfNHwa7uMOXUk_QF/s1600/BJ%2B-%2Bres%2Btones.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="915" data-ymyk8wi="" height="465" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oMm7rFTw6Nw/XoTn_gC9m0I/AAAAAAAAEHs/FziBH7i2Kr8K9-WL-YpnGlU6buaHjho_wCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoDvpRcsaK5bS9rbn7-CJ7sHCNaz-yqlrECgQMCyGdVFZP3w0DyvIg7XNPXbvb3VuvAWhWoo5IYLmXxQobAOJXaPHrNrDSBppeuekMj7YorrUk9GR3Rw7xEVgPvUzmd6JsCU3CbLbjI9A2sF8oEnd5airihjCGZrffKxaqNNmaG7iG36eguG_10ZI0p9ZxC3gWDShTZei3A7gV8mpM0YZG3VIjNU5wQLts6c5tlEHxyuDsQlPH7sV9OnKrF0qr2ct6hPptXCiCVyVQct3YnsKxOya3lYSSFt895qUmJdg5BWd-pQTyZgOlBp1VPFtEsNSte6P6HaZJrZ6RFlDqMiVlwKg_BGpQlbIoNcL02afFAEB5B57sje5cVsxMH9Hsq7cCx9Tic8C698CdTBt7nAj4t1jic8mvJXhT9QgGy3zLatJ4ynIlmEat1Gs-RW8Le4pkmIRKK9m8ZYSSBGauwyAtK9cw50RB8mHan8DsWUcJGbLIPbLZDgj7w8sFtI6tnKy1S7clQXtzbe_DNv0CJ0rR71xWoouUVNLjfMajbtJyqMgWWPyUjkhCrcRl5Os3N9xbWlaVSPtH8zx3vQCWHE3geNCHVpRfNHwa7uMOXUk_QF/s1600/BJ%2B-%2Bres%2Btones.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That's it, everything else was a disaster!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h3>
Grade</h3>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QAuuUpfBHlw/XoTn_ILeobI/AAAAAAAAEHo/yx5889QfJ28jO59umXRH7C7LtPMJ6mtiQCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoD_Om_5RvRZpHGzW49AyK39pZst178E0Z1_poJn6c6SB8wFwnuD4JGG9CI5TSMavnF-7Br6e1nAml1-p2q2P8nB_nTTlFXUIpGR4r0gqF493-JSyJvNGPQoR73B7H0m1pEk6rnc7EVDWpXkoY9PeWrAApFbipJB72H3y8jeEuVSdnjSmGeyZZFwE3ii-3zh1vew04r4sm0Zqj1P_OaCh4XcPSjwrTiK66hTFFv4NnT9DdHvocsP2Qj0bQw6xa71fSpA2vqUQHtsPn7t7BiFduOxSmDTlgmbSU2JAcVzWcBhECWl4GBbkl6Er_lP9qfdMeF-9Kpeofb2sSjku8Cuh5thhg7nTKkGUe2i8WiJHCptdLpZCMJT8opHwfAK4n2t41TF0XYYFwFW0DfijrcjVJTUzaDG6l49LkOmWxAJkdfxHzxkXGwOfHXLuMiKoShNLcFsqiMLOQkcRiwq5omf4XlWO7uccXsL8kMmBCBDBY-_-8pL5GGUcQnBcc9YB56t6asEBYaCAH43GI950-pt8ueBSY9T6zedNn1S-XtGz7B2AWLkZ5O7HxhOuoh7_e87kA-ZwTODmngSg1AQYOHA-f_NPm3F5Kx5Bf6tMIPVk_QF/s1600/BJ%2B-%2Bgrades.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="1036" data-ymyk8wi="" height="467" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QAuuUpfBHlw/XoTn_ILeobI/AAAAAAAAEHo/yx5889QfJ28jO59umXRH7C7LtPMJ6mtiQCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoD_Om_5RvRZpHGzW49AyK39pZst178E0Z1_poJn6c6SB8wFwnuD4JGG9CI5TSMavnF-7Br6e1nAml1-p2q2P8nB_nTTlFXUIpGR4r0gqF493-JSyJvNGPQoR73B7H0m1pEk6rnc7EVDWpXkoY9PeWrAApFbipJB72H3y8jeEuVSdnjSmGeyZZFwE3ii-3zh1vew04r4sm0Zqj1P_OaCh4XcPSjwrTiK66hTFFv4NnT9DdHvocsP2Qj0bQw6xa71fSpA2vqUQHtsPn7t7BiFduOxSmDTlgmbSU2JAcVzWcBhECWl4GBbkl6Er_lP9qfdMeF-9Kpeofb2sSjku8Cuh5thhg7nTKkGUe2i8WiJHCptdLpZCMJT8opHwfAK4n2t41TF0XYYFwFW0DfijrcjVJTUzaDG6l49LkOmWxAJkdfxHzxkXGwOfHXLuMiKoShNLcFsqiMLOQkcRiwq5omf4XlWO7uccXsL8kMmBCBDBY-_-8pL5GGUcQnBcc9YB56t6asEBYaCAH43GI950-pt8ueBSY9T6zedNn1S-XtGz7B2AWLkZ5O7HxhOuoh7_e87kA-ZwTODmngSg1AQYOHA-f_NPm3F5Kx5Bf6tMIPVk_QF/s640/BJ%2B-%2Bgrades.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A massive decrease, the latest resources are virtually half that in the original PEA</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8DcRJDYdsPE/XoTn_Buyl_I/AAAAAAAAEH0/1RYeeJY-v_sKCdNeGkOF0hbU40NFnJnbACEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoCPj7bLUIkwocBrIMt70S5qMhHWJY65ZQo947lwZCVsxoFn_Iq3LzXr6GrTLITqfXQRMxBAwPhz4r97j8x-DT6y_SjndorZvIt0FuQylH5ZAK0FQZAiCHlyzjiIsKlEdDUYzN5x61wdxB8oI6TvDcIAVCFLC6bNw_UumRWevejRtmXDqv41f1h0E2uJCftZWskE5-Im-W7SW6fXCCjO2RPkHO2OYzml1zM39tmPFDMCFQ5wj4nhfdryaDyeV7oPDbLgCPo9JCm7wDci_o3zMFXummYEMqU-XUbYpAfZgW65vj4ZpmSiemg8DHrI5kASNG5R6913mCPHWk23l6utA7HhJ11xrvUH0cPByFYiFe3yQjrvqzGbCtH6GJ_HnHehV4M5VDeQpjXWSPvXQOcOXAWyuD2fVw4gSFhB06EsW4nn9t-_dmKXeYjl9dm6b12kOl8aTmCfQH9xxOIsIB9Lll2wHNFoM25KH9uKxYq9TT_FuJ3ciwqQzOY-ELRAINoSTP7dIyKqwPqKra4NR_svzmj9MtE5IJFHn758CfEgK_XPX400r-lK_QTtwdMpOyjCtWJJPsgA5adYgxlPrhmuVIBLIR62PD8t1uCjMKzVk_QF/s1600/BJ%2B-%2Bgrade%2Bovertime.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="917" data-ymyk8wi="" height="466" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8DcRJDYdsPE/XoTn_Buyl_I/AAAAAAAAEH0/1RYeeJY-v_sKCdNeGkOF0hbU40NFnJnbACEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoCPj7bLUIkwocBrIMt70S5qMhHWJY65ZQo947lwZCVsxoFn_Iq3LzXr6GrTLITqfXQRMxBAwPhz4r97j8x-DT6y_SjndorZvIt0FuQylH5ZAK0FQZAiCHlyzjiIsKlEdDUYzN5x61wdxB8oI6TvDcIAVCFLC6bNw_UumRWevejRtmXDqv41f1h0E2uJCftZWskE5-Im-W7SW6fXCCjO2RPkHO2OYzml1zM39tmPFDMCFQ5wj4nhfdryaDyeV7oPDbLgCPo9JCm7wDci_o3zMFXummYEMqU-XUbYpAfZgW65vj4ZpmSiemg8DHrI5kASNG5R6913mCPHWk23l6utA7HhJ11xrvUH0cPByFYiFe3yQjrvqzGbCtH6GJ_HnHehV4M5VDeQpjXWSPvXQOcOXAWyuD2fVw4gSFhB06EsW4nn9t-_dmKXeYjl9dm6b12kOl8aTmCfQH9xxOIsIB9Lll2wHNFoM25KH9uKxYq9TT_FuJ3ciwqQzOY-ELRAINoSTP7dIyKqwPqKra4NR_svzmj9MtE5IJFHn758CfEgK_XPX400r-lK_QTtwdMpOyjCtWJJPsgA5adYgxlPrhmuVIBLIR62PD8t1uCjMKzVk_QF/s640/BJ%2B-%2Bgrade%2Bovertime.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Almost exactly the same grade as the original resources calculated in 2013</div>
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<h3>
Contained Gold</h3>
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This has given a small, 3Moz decrease in contained gold</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rhEmr2XmcE4/XoTn_EMaSlI/AAAAAAAAEH0/Mrc-zk5gCYU4B-4aDdSgU4CIk5yyMiOWACEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoAGwd9-npHRI01k42gxQjKjIlOIrKDEcn5vtVQJqF5ryOTLI2SKsqdSMb9Kmo43qKKk93qBckE4AJwjAGV_XHXW1gD7xVcpp8TzzupPlawM09dHx7sJZtaX4G4FTPQyER4C4ahm8xud-JBqKKuJGchFQc-YkHm7YzFPu2kZn4qG1LM0LlCrmWHIReTSaHUqj8diJwgMgKPjy3UWPu-HHs5UWbTcGxS1KOj-1K6rddYoY2iBdoeRUE7_X4ixB2qs_4F_8MXCqlvm71idZm_Q0bIvKNEU8XiAfZAkNR8OywSLH2NLeULgBbnbXmwlL9UT4reYhc8xh5U4iVTlvgqdQ0BFj8iFXAeoqbkeLQttMTX0rmwWE0P01DdEBrfqZwAJfA1dP62DGyR4nraBaZGTVb4IOjMJsqOcgdJSUTp0XxJpa1d2rUAW0xVqAO9ohDz3wk3kOdMuNfawW4TRXGdTTcF1ZwQY7WE2FRZiqw1l-EzX1pX5qWID-5tz6EWDGjgcDObseEJMZEl9XUWQW_mnMfrMg3okYCQLozp34Ai4T3hJIg6p9fLg9OIZRmzEC7QeYspjkAIHZWEejuhVzipEL6u53559j0eKxE-qMNnVk_QF/s1600/BJ%2B-%2Bounces.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="761" data-original-width="1043" data-ymyk8wi="" height="466" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rhEmr2XmcE4/XoTn_EMaSlI/AAAAAAAAEH0/Mrc-zk5gCYU4B-4aDdSgU4CIk5yyMiOWACEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoAGwd9-npHRI01k42gxQjKjIlOIrKDEcn5vtVQJqF5ryOTLI2SKsqdSMb9Kmo43qKKk93qBckE4AJwjAGV_XHXW1gD7xVcpp8TzzupPlawM09dHx7sJZtaX4G4FTPQyER4C4ahm8xud-JBqKKuJGchFQc-YkHm7YzFPu2kZn4qG1LM0LlCrmWHIReTSaHUqj8diJwgMgKPjy3UWPu-HHs5UWbTcGxS1KOj-1K6rddYoY2iBdoeRUE7_X4ixB2qs_4F_8MXCqlvm71idZm_Q0bIvKNEU8XiAfZAkNR8OywSLH2NLeULgBbnbXmwlL9UT4reYhc8xh5U4iVTlvgqdQ0BFj8iFXAeoqbkeLQttMTX0rmwWE0P01DdEBrfqZwAJfA1dP62DGyR4nraBaZGTVb4IOjMJsqOcgdJSUTp0XxJpa1d2rUAW0xVqAO9ohDz3wk3kOdMuNfawW4TRXGdTTcF1ZwQY7WE2FRZiqw1l-EzX1pX5qWID-5tz6EWDGjgcDObseEJMZEl9XUWQW_mnMfrMg3okYCQLozp34Ai4T3hJIg6p9fLg9OIZRmzEC7QeYspjkAIHZWEejuhVzipEL6u53559j0eKxE-qMNnVk_QF/s640/BJ%2B-%2Bounces.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-51161811458622230152019-11-14T14:45:00.001-08:002019-11-14T14:48:04.002-08:00Garibaldi - FeederWow, Garibaldi lots of drill results from Nickel Mountain (<a href="https://www.garibaldiresources.com/news/2019/garibaldi-follows-new-high-grade-pathways-below-lower-discovery-zone-at-nickel-mountain/" target="_blank">link</a>).<br />
<br />
<i><b>Note: </b>I'm going to using NiEq% grades using a ratio of 3.2% Cu = 1% Ni. </i><br />
<i>I haven't included any of the other metals as the PGEs, Au and Ag don't always appear to be associated with the massive sulfide intervals and as I don;t know their recoveries, I don't know if an economic amount of the metals will be recovered and paid for by any smelter.</i><br />
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To no surprise, all of the holes are drilled in the same 300m x 200m area that we've all come to love<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gvVaLL3X1uc/Xc3Kuy8SfCI/AAAAAAAAEEo/E9tYa3084IkZgF_r9BvMYrN3N2oWRWdtQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/deposit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="574" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gvVaLL3X1uc/Xc3Kuy8SfCI/AAAAAAAAEEo/E9tYa3084IkZgF_r9BvMYrN3N2oWRWdtQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/deposit.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I added the scale bar</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You can get a 3D model from here (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/14hYr98eZrtu78CbQiTDmpHw7k9TyzP5X/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">link</a>)<br />
<br />
<h2>
Results</h2>
Drilling has focused in 3 main areas<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>NW Zone - Holes EL-19-55 to 61</li>
<li>Discovery Zone - Holes EL-19-51 to 53</li>
<li>Deep Feeder zone - Hole EL-19-54</li>
</ol>
<h3>
NW Zone</h3>
<div>
Seven holes were drilled into this zone to see if the massive sulfides in the NW zone link up with the sulfides mapped at surface in the NE Zone. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dph2s5bgYGA/Xc3K4d_i4eI/AAAAAAAAEEw/3HphEXW-ARY5W0usfIPNSqjgBcnkJVMfQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/N%2Bzone%2Bsurface.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dph2s5bgYGA/Xc3K4d_i4eI/AAAAAAAAEEw/3HphEXW-ARY5W0usfIPNSqjgBcnkJVMfQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/N%2Bzone%2Bsurface.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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You'll see that the surface sulfides are found at the contact between the E&L Intrusion (purple) and the Hazelton Sediments (light green), </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VfVjyYbRs2o/Xc3K9BzmBAI/AAAAAAAAEE4/goRujpBXNpcHFLynlPFxIaC9-8TOWgAFgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/NM%2B-%2B01%2B-%2Bnorthwest%2Bzone.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VfVjyYbRs2o/Xc3K9BzmBAI/AAAAAAAAEE4/goRujpBXNpcHFLynlPFxIaC9-8TOWgAFgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/NM%2B-%2B01%2B-%2Bnorthwest%2Bzone.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
On the section that the holes generally hit a narrow massive sulfide zone with a small (up to 15m core length) zone of disseminated (<1% NiEq) mineralization above it. Holes 55 and 56 didn't hit any massive sulfides, and suggests that the system is dying to depth in this direction.</div>
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<h3>
Discovery/NE Zones</h3>
<div>
For the discovery zone I'll write about 2 areas - Upper and Lower sulfide zones</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9La5V2ia7Ug/Xc3LOjmECaI/AAAAAAAAEFM/hulhnbA08pIsn0Tl7JJUe0DeaxZO4mkeACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/sss.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9La5V2ia7Ug/Xc3LOjmECaI/AAAAAAAAEFM/hulhnbA08pIsn0Tl7JJUe0DeaxZO4mkeACK4BGAYYCw/s640/sss.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
Lower zone = main Discovery massive sulfide zone</div>
<div>
Upper zone = small sulfide zone found ~25m above the main zone</div>
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<div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Lower Zone</span></b></div>
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<div>
Here is a long section through the lower/main Discovery zone, I've clipped out the spurious information</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O0sbWKLU2xU/Xc3LjgcefEI/AAAAAAAAEFY/dsca6Q8HNc8OVnrvvlRloM2uqdzcwnnlQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/ssssss.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O0sbWKLU2xU/Xc3LjgcefEI/AAAAAAAAEFY/dsca6Q8HNc8OVnrvvlRloM2uqdzcwnnlQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/ssssss.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
We an see that hole 54 was a ~20m step-out from the massive sulfides hit in hole 53, and hit nearly 5m of massive sulfides grading 6.5% NiEq.</div>
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What is also interesting is that holes 17-12, 18-37 may not have been drilled deep enough to intersect this zone. Maybe there is a (small) chance that Garibaldi could re-enter these holes and drill them an additional 50m to check.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BlhxMAiuHPw/Xc3SKp9I5rI/AAAAAAAAEFw/3AQIU2ij-Gs6oacUQ12xMkiak-pcng2pACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/sdfaf.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="376" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BlhxMAiuHPw/Xc3SKp9I5rI/AAAAAAAAEFw/3AQIU2ij-Gs6oacUQ12xMkiak-pcng2pACK4BGAYYCw/s640/sdfaf.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here is a plan map of the Lower Sulfide zone. It is a busy figure</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BNeht_JNDEo/Xc3LkatIIMI/AAAAAAAAEFg/d2lISAU1J6oumi2b7PQQKhumGKcQkBQ_ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/sxassaxasxsaxa.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="408" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BNeht_JNDEo/Xc3LkatIIMI/AAAAAAAAEFg/d2lISAU1J6oumi2b7PQQKhumGKcQkBQ_ACK4BGAYYCw/s640/sxassaxasxsaxa.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
The known sulfide mineralization i about 130m x 30m and if it is 8m thick, we get:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>130 x 30 x 8 x 4.5 = 140,000 tonnes of material</li>
</ul>
<div>
Still very small, to get a 1Mt deposit, at similar thicknesses we need a footprint of</div>
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<ul>
<li>1,000,000 / 4.5 = 220,000 cubic meters</li>
<li>220,000 / 8 = 27,780 m2</li>
<li>or a zone that is 30m wide and 930m long (or a strike length that is 7 times longer than the current footprint.</li>
</ul>
It is small! </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Upper Zone</b></span></div>
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Drill-hole 51 hit a narrow zone of massive sulfide mineralization ~25m above the Discovery zone. It seems to line up with other massive sulfide occurrences in early drilling.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MAqhuVUY8gQ/Xc3SNLf4WmI/AAAAAAAAEF4/t7049YUm2488SY4yjiElKUCUJSa7vLVpACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/upper.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="490" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MAqhuVUY8gQ/Xc3SNLf4WmI/AAAAAAAAEF4/t7049YUm2488SY4yjiElKUCUJSa7vLVpACK4BGAYYCw/s640/upper.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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However, drill-hole 18-24 didn't hit anything on the up-dip continuation of this zone, so suggests that it is a small, localized sulfide body.</div>
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<h3>
Deep Feeder</h3>
<div>
Hole 54 plunged the depths of Nickel Mountain.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nqaQzNVmGnA/Xc3XK6VKZlI/AAAAAAAAEGI/znbJ2QZGEEcjDir2kk9TK-LSszbvNgFZACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/feeder.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nqaQzNVmGnA/Xc3XK6VKZlI/AAAAAAAAEGI/znbJ2QZGEEcjDir2kk9TK-LSszbvNgFZACK4BGAYYCw/s640/feeder.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
It got a 10m zone of <1% NiEq, but nothing special. This hole was drilled to follow-up on the small zone hit in hole 17-01 (they are ~10m apart). Personally, I think that rather than being a feeder zone, what we may be seeing is the effect of s chunk of Hazelton Group sediments in the Nickel Mountain Gabbros that, due to a change in local chemistry, has led to the local precipitation of sulfides from the gabbros.</div>
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We can see on the section accompanying the press release (link) that there is a close spatial relationship between the Hazelton group and mineralization.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oX2je4yiTWg/Xc3Ym1GmhzI/AAAAAAAAEGg/_JRIGztis4kMiWbrMF8-k7NfMC8QvZ10ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/dsdsdvsdv.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oX2je4yiTWg/Xc3Ym1GmhzI/AAAAAAAAEGg/_JRIGztis4kMiWbrMF8-k7NfMC8QvZ10ACK4BGAYYCw/s640/dsdsdvsdv.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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However, most of these points are rhetorical, to me, I can't see the evidence from the drilling that supports a big Ni sulfide system at Nickel Mountain.</div>
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I did an update to the Officially Bad Resources, make of them as you want</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8CLDJCcO210/Xc3Y0T0SGoI/AAAAAAAAEGo/b6HTKWhkSKMXIRzM4bBpFy_VuMYrful7ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/crap%2Bresoures.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8CLDJCcO210/Xc3Y0T0SGoI/AAAAAAAAEGo/b6HTKWhkSKMXIRzM4bBpFy_VuMYrful7ACK4BGAYYCw/s640/crap%2Bresoures.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-55428754903340088742019-11-04T16:30:00.001-08:002019-11-04T16:30:49.174-08:00Pretium - coming back to BrucejackI've ignored Brucejack for ages, but why don't we return to an old favorite.<br />
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Since I last put out a post we've had 3 quarters of production and a new resource calculation.<br />
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<h2>
Reserves and Resources</h2>
Why don't we compare the Reserves and resources for Valley of the Kings (VoK)*.<br />
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<b>Original Dec 2013 resources</b><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yOsS4QrYk5w/XcCYcNPHyQI/AAAAAAAAECk/-_ilR7gHuOYJOw-chH-HeTz_27oqggzyACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/brucejack%2B2014%2Breserves.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="363" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yOsS4QrYk5w/XcCYcNPHyQI/AAAAAAAAECk/-_ilR7gHuOYJOw-chH-HeTz_27oqggzyACK4BGAYYCw/s640/brucejack%2B2014%2Breserves.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yApud222TYI/XcCYcy_94RI/AAAAAAAAECs/pQx1fHU2AjkdYyJRs6kLZulOOrZlf_FwwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Vok%2B2014%2Bresources.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yApud222TYI/XcCYcy_94RI/AAAAAAAAECs/pQx1fHU2AjkdYyJRs6kLZulOOrZlf_FwwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Vok%2B2014%2Bresources.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Updated April 2019 resources</b><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-71qtC0hXLC4/XcCYa7izKlI/AAAAAAAAECc/8eyjgOht5_w6OtUs3jfmyRLfKrJo6ck0QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Bruce%2B2019%2Bresources.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-71qtC0hXLC4/XcCYa7izKlI/AAAAAAAAECc/8eyjgOht5_w6OtUs3jfmyRLfKrJo6ck0QCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Bruce%2B2019%2Bresources.JPG" width="627" /></a></div>
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*the West Zone resources hasn't been updated and isn't the current focus for production.<br />
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There are some slight differences<br />
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<h3>
Tonnage</h3>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rbHogKZ0KAM/XcCxe4BJC7I/AAAAAAAAEDA/VlrrDqCl-yk9fke-Cgo13FeHtpcuv5rEwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/BJ%2Btonnage%2Bcomp.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="460" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rbHogKZ0KAM/XcCxe4BJC7I/AAAAAAAAEDA/VlrrDqCl-yk9fke-Cgo13FeHtpcuv5rEwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/BJ%2Btonnage%2Bcomp.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Reserves stayed about the same, M&I resources dropped by 10%, which is isn't much when you see that they mined >1.5Mt of ore (to end of 2018) since the 2013 Feasibility Study. However, we do see a big drop in inferred resources.<br />
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<h3>
Headgrade</h3>
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This is where things get slightly less polite.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GC5sc1raA-k/XcCzOiNckUI/AAAAAAAAEDM/p4Su42Bfz-sWCYUmu_UtxFl3Jka4tSvNwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/BJ%2Bgrade%2Bcomp.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GC5sc1raA-k/XcCzOiNckUI/AAAAAAAAEDM/p4Su42Bfz-sWCYUmu_UtxFl3Jka4tSvNwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/BJ%2Bgrade%2Bcomp.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
We see a moderate drop in head grade for the Reserves, a slight decrease for M&I resources, but a big drop in inferred grades.<br />
<br />
We can't say this is due to Pretium mining high-grade ore in 2018 as the average head-grade for 2017 and 2018 was only 10.1 g/t Au.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Contained Gold</h3>
<div>
These changes in tonnes and grade have had a big impact on the contained gold.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xmdptI4LEyg/XcC0RwJGkzI/AAAAAAAAEDY/qfVydRJAk9AC8_avH_YOm5pRq_hshK64ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/BJ%2BAu%2Bcomp.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xmdptI4LEyg/XcC0RwJGkzI/AAAAAAAAEDY/qfVydRJAk9AC8_avH_YOm5pRq_hshK64ACK4BGAYYCw/s640/BJ%2BAu%2Bcomp.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Even is we take into account that the mine produced ~0.5M oz in 2017 and 2018, that is a massive decrease in resources, they have lost nearly a quarter of the contained gold at Valley of the Kings.<br />
<br />
The question is - is the deposit intrinsically hard to model accurately (yes) or was the 2013 model overly optimistic (yes) and didn't fully understand the control and distribution of the gold.<br />
<br />
<h2>
2019 Production</h2>
This is easy, production to date is below expectations, even Pretium cut their 2019 outlook from 390K-420K oz Au down to 340K-350K (40K-80K or ~20%), which caused a nice share price collapse.<br />
<br />
So why don't we have a look at the wreckage...<br />
<br />
Here is the April 2019 LOM grades by year...<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yhkKJ9gGiaM/XcC8g62F9mI/AAAAAAAAEDw/OM2oGA2z96gCtiyZBsuOPOZxP_5_e-1uQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/2019%2BLOM%2Bgrades.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="386" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yhkKJ9gGiaM/XcC8g62F9mI/AAAAAAAAEDw/OM2oGA2z96gCtiyZBsuOPOZxP_5_e-1uQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/2019%2BLOM%2Bgrades.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We're still in 2019!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Tetratech tell us that Pretium will be mining ore that is 10.6 g/t Au in 2019<br />
<br />
Pretium actually mined.....8.9 g/t Au<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kTYqtQyDj3Y/XcC7sO2aUPI/AAAAAAAAEDk/MQy3irrr3jApSwJf5HzWA-ERB5pbUMcwACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/grade%2Bcomp.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kTYqtQyDj3Y/XcC7sO2aUPI/AAAAAAAAEDk/MQy3irrr3jApSwJf5HzWA-ERB5pbUMcwACK4BGAYYCw/s640/grade%2Bcomp.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
But they did get better, cranking the grade from 8.7 g/t Au in Q1 to 9.1 g/t Au in Q3.<br />
<br />
Awesome job!! Just 1.7 g/t or 16% below expectations.<br />
<br />
From their pessimistic production outlook (slashing production by ~60Koz), we can have a go at estimating the Q4 numbers.<br />
<br />
We can calculate the planned Q4 production<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Est. Annual production - 340-350Koz or <b>345,000</b> (taking the mid-point)</li>
<li>2019 production to date = 258,168 oz</li>
<li>Q4 production = 345,000 - 258,168 = 86,832 oz</li>
</ul>
<br />
We can try and calculate the average head-grade<br />
<br />
Assumptions<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Mill throughput = 3600 tpd (still ramping up to 3800 tpd)</li>
<li>Recoveries 97%</li>
</ol>
<br />
Tonnes milled = 3600 x 90 = 324,000 tonnes (assuming 2 days of shutdown)<br />
Ounces produced = 86,832 x 1.03 = 89,437 (removing the 3% loss in the mill)<br />
<br />
Q4 average head-grade = (89,437 x 31.1)/324,000 = <b><span style="color: red;">8.6 g/t Au</span></b><br />
<br />
Even if Pretium hit the upper end of the estimated production, the grade only increases to 9.1 g/t Au.<br />
<br />
The mine is very productive and highly profitable, but it is still under performing, by 10-15%, its new and improved feasibility study, that dropped the grades significantly. What is interesting for me is that since commercial production began, the mine head-grade has sat stubbornly around 9 g/t Au. Is this the 'real' grade of the deposit?<br />
<br />
One observation I had in an earlier post was that I was concerned that as the mill was expanded, we would see a drop in head grade.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nQv8NfskFLg/XcDBWfA6RKI/AAAAAAAAEEI/oMxun_UQaywQ6hDT7HdL7pnvL9wUxkrNgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/throughput%2Bvs%2Bgrade.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nQv8NfskFLg/XcDBWfA6RKI/AAAAAAAAEEI/oMxun_UQaywQ6hDT7HdL7pnvL9wUxkrNgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/throughput%2Bvs%2Bgrade.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
There is a trend suggesting that, but I think it is a bit too early to tell.<br />
<br />
I know this post is a bit negative, but the mine has consistently failed to meet expectations, I know that I will receive a lot of posts saying that the share price is up, but the rise in gold to US$1500/ounce has helped to mask some issues with the mine.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zejar9Kj5W8/XcDCQ53IiNI/AAAAAAAAEEU/0WiLw2ZTdEgqs-dmOMn-6_IcdmOVpkJJgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/shareprice.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zejar9Kj5W8/XcDCQ53IiNI/AAAAAAAAEEU/0WiLw2ZTdEgqs-dmOMn-6_IcdmOVpkJJgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/shareprice.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
It is still a fantastic mine, and I'm sure that once the issues are resolved, or at least understood, an if gold price keeps creeping up, I would expect a major company to look very hard at buying Pretium.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-87084171301889415122019-10-25T12:05:00.000-07:002019-10-25T12:05:06.136-07:00Westhaven - ShovelnoseI've been wanting to compile the data for Westhaven's Shovelnose deposit for some time. They keep publishing decent grades and thicknesses (<a href="https://www.westhavenventures.com/news-and-media/news/news-display/index.php?content_id=241" target="_blank">link</a>, <a href="https://www.westhavenventures.com/news-and-media/news/news-display/index.php?content_id=236" target="_blank">link</a> and <a href="https://www.westhavenventures.com/news-and-media/news/news-display/index.php?content_id=234" target="_blank">link</a>), and I wanted to see how the data holds together.<br />
<br />
Shovelnose is a good exploration story. Work commenced on the property in 2011. In 2016, drilling identified low-grade disseminated mineralization in silicified rhyolites in the Alpine and Tower zones. It was recognized that this could be the upper part of a high-grade epithermal system, which was discovered in 2018.<br />
<br />
So, using the previous post on epithermal deposits as a guide, we'll look at the the data to see:<br />
<ol>
<li>Number of mineralized structures</li>
<li>Size potential - vertical and horizontal extents of the mineralization</li>
</ol>
<div>
<h3>
Mineralized structures</h3>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n0w4RHtVBa8/XbMeRjwmxRI/AAAAAAAAEBI/9w0bGSns90o8Qnkrsq3TX1L553kvKy7nACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/plan%2Bmap.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="483" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n0w4RHtVBa8/XbMeRjwmxRI/AAAAAAAAEBI/9w0bGSns90o8Qnkrsq3TX1L553kvKy7nACK4BGAYYCw/s640/plan%2Bmap.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Westhaven tell us that they have 2 principal veins and maybe splay, but when you put the data in 3D, the picture becomes more complicated.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cL7MXcefv3E/XbMcpu4kVjI/AAAAAAAAEAo/frGaUyW21tEEng6m1Jf10DQXfEPklB1iwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="436" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cL7MXcefv3E/XbMcpu4kVjI/AAAAAAAAEAo/frGaUyW21tEEng6m1Jf10DQXfEPklB1iwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red and orange = 2019 DH; green = 2018 DH</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
However, if you look at the silver, it appears to be restricted to the core of the mineralized structures.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BagzXSMXgDo/XbMcyJP7JSI/AAAAAAAAEAw/M-YhLitaT4Y7rgzbdeq-xwftaI1HPoVSQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="402" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BagzXSMXgDo/XbMcyJP7JSI/AAAAAAAAEAw/M-YhLitaT4Y7rgzbdeq-xwftaI1HPoVSQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silver restricted to core of veins</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
From this I've created a series of veins. It is quite complicated, there are many ways that you can join the dots, but we can see 2 principal structures and several splays and parallel veins.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jM-8Yqj9P_Y/XbMczTdBu3I/AAAAAAAAEA4/jtkYoS4C8sk_5l7F6gKa3VXUU6CCjfpdgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="376" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jM-8Yqj9P_Y/XbMczTdBu3I/AAAAAAAAEA4/jtkYoS4C8sk_5l7F6gKa3VXUU6CCjfpdgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/3.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">potentially multiple splay veins between principal structures</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We can also see that the thickest and highest grades appear where one of the splays intersects the main vein.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Mineralization Extents</h3>
<div>
<b><span style="color: white;">Vertical</span></b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<i>Note: My elevations are based on the Government of Canada 50K topomaps (<a href="https://angrygeologist.blogspot.com/2019/09/canadian-topo-maps.html" target="_blank">link</a>), and will vary by a few meters from Westhaven's surveyed drill-holes and collars</i><br />
<br />
We know that in LS-Epithermal deposits, the good grade mineralization is restricted to a quite a tight vertical range. In earlier presentations (link), they used to include this slide:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EpjSW7byuWg/XbMf1hgClBI/AAAAAAAAEBU/Tu2J_EVTySAbflSXmrzUxtZ4SdD85hhaACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/elevation.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EpjSW7byuWg/XbMf1hgClBI/AAAAAAAAEBU/Tu2J_EVTySAbflSXmrzUxtZ4SdD85hhaACK4BGAYYCw/s640/elevation.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">just a 100m extent..</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
According to their geologists, the decent Au mineralization is found over a ~100m vertical range, from 1250 to 1150, which isn't very special, but with the power of excel, I disagree with them:<br />
<br />
<b>Au</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K4EknMH-k5w/XbMgFD7F1uI/AAAAAAAAEBc/CXkHZOZk1oQ-oHv_LKHmxmGi2N1Q5usWACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Au%2Belev.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K4EknMH-k5w/XbMgFD7F1uI/AAAAAAAAEBc/CXkHZOZk1oQ-oHv_LKHmxmGi2N1Q5usWACK4BGAYYCw/s400/Au%2Belev.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<i>Please note - I've clipped the >50 g/t values to show a bit more detail for the <10 g/t Au area.</i><br />
<br />
We can see that the majority of the >3 g/t Au samples fall between 950 and 1200m, and a higher grade (>5 g/t Au) core between 1000 and 1150m.<br />
<br />
So we have a 250m apparent vertical extent to mineralization. Not bad<br />
<br />
<b>Ag</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MjIZ_pzSO9w/XbMgIDGryWI/AAAAAAAAEBo/2vGmX1rg1JYV0GUVPk7r96QA6cXJH31WQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Ag%2Belev.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MjIZ_pzSO9w/XbMgIDGryWI/AAAAAAAAEBo/2vGmX1rg1JYV0GUVPk7r96QA6cXJH31WQCK4BGAYYCw/s400/Ag%2Belev.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<i>Please note - I've clipped the >300 g/t values to show a bit more detail for the <50 g/t Ag area.</i><br />
<br />
We see a similar distribution for silver.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: white;">Horizontal</span></b><br />
<br />
I've broken out the horizontal extents by the two principal veins. We want to the extent of the >3 g/t mineralization and if there are any high-grade (>5 g/t Au) zones that are can be extended or infilled (hot holes drive share-prices)<br />
<br />
<b>Main Vein</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-knDbB3CS85c/XbM1stngtjI/AAAAAAAAEB4/BlPg8APB77AoDAw8J_7RzaG3cWVbYjucQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/4.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="324" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-knDbB3CS85c/XbM1stngtjI/AAAAAAAAEB4/BlPg8APB77AoDAw8J_7RzaG3cWVbYjucQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/4.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
We can see that the majority of the >2.5 g/t samples fall within a specific area that appears to have a 500m horizontal extent and a 100-200m vertical extent.<br />
<br />
We can see that the down-dip extension to mineralization appears to be open, but you can see how variable the grades are, we have several holes that hit minimal Au adjacent to hole SN18-25.<br />
<br />
<b>Secondary vein</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sG7GPgaqEKU/XbM1tQa1E2I/AAAAAAAAECA/sG4IUY1qfAQK51_rwPDFKgBc1EFkrUXAACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/5.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sG7GPgaqEKU/XbM1tQa1E2I/AAAAAAAAECA/sG4IUY1qfAQK51_rwPDFKgBc1EFkrUXAACK4BGAYYCw/s640/5.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
On the second vein we see that the >2.5 g/t zone extends for at least 400m along strike and a 100-120m vertical extent. We can see that the zone appears to be open along strike, so there is good potential to extend this zone. We also see a consistent zone of >5 g/t Au mineralization (~150m x 120m) in the center of the vein.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Conclusions</h3>
So far Westhaven have discovered a decent epithernal system, with 2 principal veins with a couple of reasonable sized zones of mineralization. From the long sections we can see that the high-grade (>2.5 g/t Au) zones are well drilled (~50m drill-hole spacing), and the lateral extents appear to limited.<br />
<br />
So, where do Westhaven go now? They could continue drilling the known areas and pumping out PRs with decent intercepts, but after a while they'll need to come up with a resource, and from my back of the envelope calculations the current drilling have defined around ~700Kt (assuming an average 2m vein width), which isn't enormous.<br />
<br />
Therefore, it is nice to see that Westhaven are looking for new areas (<a href="https://www.westhavenventures.com/news-and-media/news/news-display/index.php?content_id=242" target="_blank">link</a>) to explore to build on their initial discoveries to see if they can find new veins and get the project big enough to attract interest from bigger companies.<br />
<br />
You can get my 3D model from here (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wG7hw9pscSzZXnxqhzKMOWQ2uQD2dxmL/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">link</a>)<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-51392425277638972962019-10-18T08:00:00.000-07:002019-10-18T08:00:10.481-07:00Low Sulfidation Epithermal deposits<h3>
Low Sulfidation (LS) Epithermal drivel </h3>
Just a quick intro on LS-Epithermal vein deposits. Very simple, but there is a reason for this....<br />
<br />
911 metallurgist has a great description of low sulfidation epithernal deposits here - <a href="https://www.911metallurgist.com/blog/low-sulphidation-epithermal-deposits" target="_blank">link</a>, from which are some important things to note (in general) about low sulfidation (LS) Epithermal deposits and districts:<br />
<ul>
<li>There are often multiple, generally, parallel veins</li>
</ul>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VeBNYVlIKwQ/XYpiEPucmwI/AAAAAAAAD_8/NkliNX47wgEevJ-VlRIJ63GclQlaiiChQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/epi.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="444" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VeBNYVlIKwQ/XYpiEPucmwI/AAAAAAAAD_8/NkliNX47wgEevJ-VlRIJ63GclQlaiiChQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/epi.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<ul>
<li>That are associated with (normal) faults. In many districts, often there are blind veins (i.e. the veins don't outcrop on surface).</li>
</ul>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AGuU-9gFFTo/XYpiwPgYx-I/AAAAAAAAEAU/_nCjjH9PpwcTTtQ679C06NkcP6Y5gtWCQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/sction.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="488" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AGuU-9gFFTo/XYpiwPgYx-I/AAAAAAAAEAU/_nCjjH9PpwcTTtQ679C06NkcP6Y5gtWCQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/sction.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<ul>
<li>Ore-grade mineralization in a district generally occurs over a specific range*</li>
<li>Mineralization isn't distributed equally throughout the vein, but is found in specific zones (ore-shoots)</li>
</ul>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BzFbxtAbFl4/XYpiFYHCkqI/AAAAAAAAEAE/xUCihO-_mCQMPkDbFoMFMPC1im6buu3lwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/vfdbdgbgfbg.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BzFbxtAbFl4/XYpiFYHCkqI/AAAAAAAAEAE/xUCihO-_mCQMPkDbFoMFMPC1im6buu3lwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/vfdbdgbgfbg.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*assuming no post-mineral faulting (e.g. San Dimas) or multiple mineralizing/stacked events (e.g. very large epithermal districts e.g. Guanajuato, +/- Valdecanas).</span><br />
<br />
For exploration it is key to target this favorable horizon, as if you<br />
<ul>
<li>Drill above = erratic occasional Au-Ag hits (but could see elevated As, Hg and Sb).</li>
<li>Drill below = may hit elevated base metal (Pb, Zn, Cu) grades and low/no Au-Ag (e.g. San Sebastian - Hugh zone (Hecla Mining))</li>
</ul>
<br />
So when you are looking at a company with LS-Epithermal projects you want to see:<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="color: white;">Land position</span> - you want the company to control or have a good chunk of a district. There is no point getting to excited about a company with a small project as any decent mineralization will quickly leave the property.</li>
<li><span style="color: white;">More veins</span> = more potential for large tonnages and multiple ore-shoots (e.g. Las Chispas).</li>
<li><span style="color: white;">Large vertical extent of high-grade mineralization </span>- this is harder without drilling. Generally in LS-Epithermal deposits the bonanza zone is ~200m thick (bigger systems = larger vertical extents - Santo Nino vein, Fresnillo had a 3-400m vertical extent).</li>
</ol>
<br />
References:<br />
Rhys, D el al (2017) - Gold’17 – February 2017 – Rotorua, New Zealand 82 l Structure of the Palmarejo Mining DistrictThe Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-1688920289608970292019-09-13T18:58:00.000-07:002019-09-14T13:06:46.124-07:00Quick GGI updatePR from yesterday from Garibaldi (<a href="https://www.garibaldiresources.com/news/2019/garibaldi-drills-18.2-meters-of-7-nickel-and-3.8-copper-at-nickel-mountain/" target="_blank">link</a>), and I've updated the Leapfrog model with the results form holes 47 and 53 (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sK-vDsbeMuGLPFx-J_g8MRKEqKKkX9S3/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">link</a>)<br />
<br />
now some piccies<br />
<br />
<h3>
Hole 48</h3>
This is an infill hole, it is 16m from holes EL-17-09 and 10 and 10m from holes EL-17-14<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-upbZOX0GEk8/XXw5Alcd1KI/AAAAAAAAD-k/C-NuoaUiTlA6E-hcYMjuM5LONJYdQtpYwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/48.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-upbZOX0GEk8/XXw5Alcd1KI/AAAAAAAAD-k/C-NuoaUiTlA6E-hcYMjuM5LONJYdQtpYwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/48.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
However, the when we look at the lauded 44.5m at 1.2% Ni and 0.8% Cu we quickly see in reality this wide zone is really running ~0.5% Ni and Cu with the majority of the metals in the ~5m wide massive sulfide zone.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Hole 53</h3>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eaHOuwa2APc/XXw5wguXPHI/AAAAAAAAD-w/jDNLGvl07nEnL9ABQUfbU9qz2n2NjMfbACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/53%2Bupdate.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eaHOuwa2APc/XXw5wguXPHI/AAAAAAAAD-w/jDNLGvl07nEnL9ABQUfbU9qz2n2NjMfbACK4BGAYYCw/s640/53%2Bupdate.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
What we predicted, again, the massive sulfide zone was slightly wider than I had doodled in an earlier post.<br />
<br />
How do this change the lower zone massive sulfide footprint?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fte8k2B3ots/XXw6HhYiKhI/AAAAAAAAD-8/ewrnvwGkRn8ir66w7Re7lTtmFcjgFX3EgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/expansion.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fte8k2B3ots/XXw6HhYiKhI/AAAAAAAAD-8/ewrnvwGkRn8ir66w7Re7lTtmFcjgFX3EgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/expansion.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a bunion</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Not by much.<br />
<br />
So how big is Nickel mountain? Here is my modeled Ni mineralization<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QKWm_cqHZa4/XXw6wept24I/AAAAAAAAD_I/TwSsUCzkcvUQVbOFUXlC7e_s6rzC7QG_ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Ni%2Bres.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QKWm_cqHZa4/XXw6wept24I/AAAAAAAAD_I/TwSsUCzkcvUQVbOFUXlC7e_s6rzC7QG_ACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Ni%2Bres.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
Which gives me an approximate size of...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZXW_yZ5xka4/XXw64tphaQI/AAAAAAAAD_Q/bPQTJLLy3C8tR9EhFQPyClf4dpo1HsLTQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Ni%2Bresources.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZXW_yZ5xka4/XXw64tphaQI/AAAAAAAAD_Q/bPQTJLLy3C8tR9EhFQPyClf4dpo1HsLTQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Ni%2Bresources.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
As people got butt-hurt about me comparing Nickel Mountain with Voisey's Bay, here it is compared to a multitude of Nickel deposits (source - <a href="http://www.ga.gov.au/ausgeonews/ausgeonews200509/nickel.jsp" target="_blank">link</a>).<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GZokdqwt-IE/XX1ISANBkJI/AAAAAAAAD_w/nTzZ3ADKTQg_USF3HnS6LdPVXCGJvQpCgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/ni.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="492" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GZokdqwt-IE/XX1ISANBkJI/AAAAAAAAD_w/nTzZ3ADKTQg_USF3HnS6LdPVXCGJvQpCgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/ni.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So, it isn't, what you would call a tier-1 depositThe Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com49tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-52730734696829822682019-09-07T08:54:00.001-07:002019-09-07T08:54:03.116-07:00Canadian Topo MapsTotally irrelevant post, but if you need reasonable topo maps for Canada, the Government of Canada have a great Google Earth link to their Digital elevation models<br />
<br />
250K maps (<a href="http://ftp.geogratis.gc.ca/pub/nrcan_rncan/elevation/cdem_mnec/index/cdem_index_250k.kml" target="_blank">link</a>)<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MxfEczzYBN4/XXPRn0tq2fI/AAAAAAAAD9k/bYMP0WEQTxcG4Ps_Otp7XLfqMceJe17SACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="394" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MxfEczzYBN4/XXPRn0tq2fI/AAAAAAAAD9k/bYMP0WEQTxcG4Ps_Otp7XLfqMceJe17SACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
50K maps (<a href="http://ftp.geogratis.gc.ca/pub/nrcan_rncan/elevation/cdsm_mnsc/index/cdsm_index_50k.kml" target="_blank">link</a>)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jPrlKRGdWn8/XXPRoVwf-wI/AAAAAAAAD9s/U9G9gIp4iSAMSZdjvwobC0JrARh2UzJ9QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Capture50.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="390" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jPrlKRGdWn8/XXPRoVwf-wI/AAAAAAAAD9s/U9G9gIp4iSAMSZdjvwobC0JrARh2UzJ9QCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Capture50.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">even cartographers don't give a shit about the Canadian Arctic</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've found that the best way to download the files is to right-click on the hyperlink and copy and paste it into your browser<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m5cwDdyZtbU/XXPRpWLmXDI/AAAAAAAAD90/v7p3i1ewIy47fwiEyO7kbybsk8Z71Q1HACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/capture%2B3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m5cwDdyZtbU/XXPRpWLmXDI/AAAAAAAAD90/v7p3i1ewIy47fwiEyO7kbybsk8Z71Q1HACK4BGAYYCw/s400/capture%2B3.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, working on the Shovelnose property, with my reputation....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This will download a geotiff file for the area selected.<div>
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<div>
very cool<br /><br /></div>
The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-8096307062993906682019-08-22T10:40:00.000-07:002019-08-22T10:40:44.414-07:00Garibaldi - attack of the biscuitsSorry for my tardiness, I was playing around with copper deposits.<br />
<br />
We got a PR from our chums at Garibaldi Resources announcing the first of <strike>many</strike> few drill results from Nickel Mountain (<a href="https://www.garibaldiresources.com/news/2019/garibaldi-drills-18-meters-of-massive-sulphide-within-86-meter-interval-at-nickel-mountain-discovery/" target="_blank">link</a>)<br />
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<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To the surprise of no-one, we didn’t get any decent maps with this PR, just a couple that re hard to read at the bottom of the PR - I couldn’t see where these new holes were located , could you?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
but fear ye not, here they are....</div>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-00oqufm8BAs/XV3fP5XkjaI/AAAAAAAAD74/myudZ6mIIEAGOCN3N3amr__-4LvofypqgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/plan.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-00oqufm8BAs/XV3fP5XkjaI/AAAAAAAAD74/myudZ6mIIEAGOCN3N3amr__-4LvofypqgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/plan.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
OMG!!!!! both of them have targeted the <strike>Swiss Cheese</strike> Discovery Zone.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let’s look at the holes in a bit more detail</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h3>
Hole EL-19-47</h3>
<div>
This is drilling the eastern continuation of the lower discovery zone.</div>
</div>
<div>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5lmY0-teO8A/XV3fYnwJG6I/AAAAAAAAD8A/8avWu7CNelc96wOKL6Va66pog250qnJtgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/EL%2B47.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="334" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5lmY0-teO8A/XV3fYnwJG6I/AAAAAAAAD8A/8avWu7CNelc96wOKL6Va66pog250qnJtgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/EL%2B47.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That hole was drilled a massive 15m from hole EL-18-16 and 24m from the massive sulfide hit in hole EL-18-24. Not really a massive leap of faith that would add millions and millions of tonnes to the deposit.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h3>
EL-19-53</h3>
<div>
This hole was drilled from the same platform as hole 47 but in a different direction, plunging into the heart of the known</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KZQEudNJ-P4/XV3flskYeUI/AAAAAAAAD8M/duZcbJg7CPMTkiIHaTBZ_uFS4qQHAtf2QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/EL53%2Btrace%2B2.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="438" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KZQEudNJ-P4/XV3flskYeUI/AAAAAAAAD8M/duZcbJg7CPMTkiIHaTBZ_uFS4qQHAtf2QCK4BGAYYCw/s640/EL53%2Btrace%2B2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Just 11.3m from the massive sulfides hit in hole EL-18-22</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XDjCm1tMnqE/XV3fmn80TVI/AAAAAAAAD8U/9sUdJTlAzrMgEjQi38nR2zciPpJf-KdnQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/EL53%2Btrace.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XDjCm1tMnqE/XV3fmn80TVI/AAAAAAAAD8U/9sUdJTlAzrMgEjQi38nR2zciPpJf-KdnQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/EL53%2Btrace.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And 14.3m from the massive sulfides in hole EL-18-20…</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><span style="color: red;">Warning</span></b>: the following image contains an “interpretation” involving one or more squiggly lines and maybe words, but definitely no numbers. Please sit down!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p0KFpS25EK8/XV3f0ZSiSmI/AAAAAAAAD8g/7OWDIsueYIEOyJU9EPyDya9blGBb6tKSgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/53%2Binterp.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p0KFpS25EK8/XV3f0ZSiSmI/AAAAAAAAD8g/7OWDIsueYIEOyJU9EPyDya9blGBb6tKSgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/53%2Binterp.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What is cool, is that you can join up the massive sulfide
hits in several holes to work out an approximate outline of the Discovery Zone.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d5A8_E0pE4I/XV3gFJjfi9I/AAAAAAAAD80/DkpXzbD70B4YfgL4XeLGFva5zl2NMoNnACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/lower%2Bdiscovery%2Bsulfide%2Bbody%2Boutline.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d5A8_E0pE4I/XV3gFJjfi9I/AAAAAAAAD80/DkpXzbD70B4YfgL4XeLGFva5zl2NMoNnACK4BGAYYCw/s640/lower%2Bdiscovery%2Bsulfide%2Bbody%2Boutline.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isometric view looking SW. Red outline is my interpreted limit to sulfide mineralization</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
In Plan view, with some annotations and a scale</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AkuYi9oi2Lc/XV3gSyotlQI/AAAAAAAAD88/o4dm2YKIY_QehAK4GAAqxpnKgrk-Rc68wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/lower%2Bdiscovery%2Bsulfide%2Bplan%2Bmap.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AkuYi9oi2Lc/XV3gSyotlQI/AAAAAAAAD88/o4dm2YKIY_QehAK4GAAqxpnKgrk-Rc68wCK4BGAYYCw/s640/lower%2Bdiscovery%2Bsulfide%2Bplan%2Bmap.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I added the 10m buffers around the drill-holes as it allows you to quickly see areas they haven't been drilled. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A lot (20) of holes have penetrated the lower discovery zone defining a zone of massive sulfides that:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Dimensions of ~125m long, 15-35m wide and 5-10m thick (true thickness)</li>
<li>Or an approximate volume of 23,500 cubic meters</li>
<li>Or an approximate tonnage of 108,000 tonnes (using an SG of 4.6*)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
*SG of Pentlandite (main Ni sulfide) is 4.6 to 5.0; Chalcopyrite (copper sulfide) is 4.1 to 4.3</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, Nickel Mountains isn't big, but there are a few areas where mineralization can be expanded</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xzHIRszU9JQ/XV3hSy3YdsI/AAAAAAAAD9M/8KYOrIY4gjo2SUHGWYJEV4J1H7gfagnaACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/lower%2Bdiscovery%2Bsulfide%2Bplan%2Bmap3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="374" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xzHIRszU9JQ/XV3hSy3YdsI/AAAAAAAAD9M/8KYOrIY4gjo2SUHGWYJEV4J1H7gfagnaACK4BGAYYCw/s640/lower%2Bdiscovery%2Bsulfide%2Bplan%2Bmap3.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">dashed green outlines - where mineralization appears to be open</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nothing new, just a couple of holes pushing the boundaries
of mineralization by a metaphorical duck’s fart, and just for fun, here is the
Nickel Mountain deposit compared to that tiddler, Voisey’s Bay.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O7aUpRZHx9E/XV3hd49Z1SI/AAAAAAAAD9U/d1GFPncRTpIcSgJa5jfj2YjPq1ktb-MzgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Voisey_Bay_1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="595" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O7aUpRZHx9E/XV3hd49Z1SI/AAAAAAAAD9U/d1GFPncRTpIcSgJa5jfj2YjPq1ktb-MzgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Voisey_Bay_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Leapfrog viewer file can be downloaded from <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1F2GUErIscRc21xKZc65dBaB6fBxtCtCn" target="_blank">here</a></div>
The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-91700544001409563442019-08-16T06:33:00.000-07:002019-08-17T06:36:02.252-07:00Cu AcquisitionsI had a chuckle at Cordoba’s PR (link) on their resources, it is quite small, and spread over several deposits, but it made me think….<br />
<br />
How good does a porphyry copper deposit need to be to give a massive erection to a mining executive and make them splash their wodge to buy it?<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Fortunately, Oroco Resources had included a nice slide in their presentation (<a href="https://orocoresourcecorp.com/wp-content/uploads/Oroco-Resource-Corp-Presentation-Deck-June-17-2019-1.pdf" target="_blank">link</a>), that I was able to use.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Assumptions:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>CuEq derived from Cu and Au, the other metals don’t generate much value</li>
<li>100% recovery</li>
<li>Metal prices of:</li>
<ul>
<li>Cu = US$2.50/lb</li>
<li>Au = US$1250/oz</li>
<li>Ag = no-one gives a shit about this</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vpzLhjsA0VI/XVavpv4qAdI/AAAAAAAAD7s/dgxbxmInYw481maNeFEW7D8cTxkpn2cDgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/cu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vpzLhjsA0VI/XVavpv4qAdI/AAAAAAAAD7s/dgxbxmInYw481maNeFEW7D8cTxkpn2cDgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/cu.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magenta = San Matias</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Quite a spread, please note that I haven’t separated producing mines from development projects, and many of the largest deposits will have a high-grade core/starter pit (e.g. Cobre Panama), but you can clearly see that all bar one (El Pilar in Mexico) contained >1Mt copper.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, plot on your favorite Cu project to see where it is, as companies don't appear to be very choosy with what they buy,.<br />
<br />
In my opinion, we can see that lots of these projects are too low grade (<0.5% Cu) for development, but it seems that the only thing that matters is size.</div>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I’m sure it is more technical than that, but it is an interesting guide to have a look to see is out there, and when copper starts raging, the FOMO will be strong and lots of <strike>stupid</strike> strategic acquisitions will be made and hopefully you’ll make out like bandits.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-54807387416890971232019-07-08T16:44:00.003-07:002019-07-08T16:44:44.854-07:00PauseSorry for the lack of posts, I've been working on a large project that has been consuming all of my time.<br />
<br />
It is now complete-ish, so I have some time to waste on this blog!The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-47873703847535649152019-07-08T16:41:00.001-07:002019-07-08T16:41:41.366-07:00Buritica - Narrow veins and potential issuesContinental Gold have been releasing some juicy assay data from Buriticá, here is an example from last month (<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/continental-gold-announces-high-grade-gold-channel-sampling-results-from-underground-development-drifts-at-buritic%C3%A1-including-25-11-g-t-gold-equivalent-along-31-metres-of-strike-1028251783" target="_blank">link</a>).<br />
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I hate companies that report strike length samples, to me they are trying to deceive you into misreading the table and believing that they have wide zones of gold mineralization:<br />
<ul>
<li>e.g. 31m @ 24.09 g/t Au and 76.22 g/t Ag at 2.26m width</li>
</ul>
translates to:<br />
<ul>
<li>A series of samples taken from a vein where a 31m long portion averaged 24.09 g/t Au and 7.66 g/t Ag over an average width of 2.26m </li>
</ul>
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However, what interested me most about this PR were the maps and this statement:</div>
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In Summary:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>No capping</li>
<li>Weighted averages</li>
<li>No dilution</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
The issue with no using capping and using a weighted average is that a few high-grade samples can increase the overall average of the mineralized zone lead to companies calculating resource blocks with higher grades than actually occur. This is especially problematic this methodology continues through to mine development (this often happens when companies do resource calculations internally), when they get into a situation where reserve/resource grades >> mined grades (e.g. several mines operated by First Majestic).</div>
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I’m using the maps from the March 9th PR (<a href="https://www.continentalgold.com/en/continental-gold-announces-high-grade-gold-channel-sampling-results-from-stope-development-drifts-at-buritica-including-16-95-g-t-gold-along-78-metres-of-strike/" target="_blank">link</a>) as they give a breakdown for each channel sample compared to just a series of colored rectangles used in later PRs.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D5g-EF3tID0/XSDfhV473NI/AAAAAAAAD5s/uC5nvBx7Ir8jzswXKGMZSe7y-etxFJKDwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D5g-EF3tID0/XSDfhV473NI/AAAAAAAAD5s/uC5nvBx7Ir8jzswXKGMZSe7y-etxFJKDwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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We’ll focus on the areas YR_1444_CX05 - Stope Areas 1 and 2 – I’ve added a grade legend as the one on the original maps is quite hard to read.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2vtLkYQ10P8/XSDfozePovI/AAAAAAAAD58/qTbyaJBuiJU0hdZigA8V73pA3jQt3O5MACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2vtLkYQ10P8/XSDfozePovI/AAAAAAAAD58/qTbyaJBuiJU0hdZigA8V73pA3jQt3O5MACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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We know that Continental plan to mine all of this vein in this area as they have them shown as potential stopes, but if you look closely at this map you see 2 things:</div>
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<h3>
1. Grade</h3>
<div>
The average weighted, uncapped grade for this area = 16.95 g/t Au, or red according to the grade legend, so:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>How many samples are red (or better) from this section?</li>
<ul>
<li>7 out of 26 or 27% assayed >10 g/t Au or</li>
<li>73% of the channel samples assayed less than 10 g/t Au</li>
</ul>
</ul>
In high-grade gold mine you get a lot of variability, but it would be reasonable to expect that the modal value would be close to the reported average grade of this area? Let us look closer at the map.</div>
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At the far west end of the “2” stope area, we see an ultra-high-grade sample (cyan rectangle) that is grading <b>2.26m @ 119.6 g/t Au</b>, what would happen to the average grade for the entire block if we remove this sample?<br />
<ul><ul>
<li>Grade drops from 16.95 g/t Au to <b>9.11 g/t Au, or by 46%</b></li>
</ul>
</ul>
Typically mining companies cap ultra-high-grade samples to avoid this issue, where a couple of high-grade samples can significantly increase the overall grade of a zone, we'll do the same here:<br />
<ul>
<li>Uncapped – 2.23m @ 16.95 g/t Au over a 78m strike length</li>
<li>50 g/t Au Cap – 2.23m @ 11.08 g/t Au – a <b>35% reduction</b></li>
<li>30 g/t Au Cap – 2.23m @ 9.72 g/t Au – a <b>43% reduction</b></li>
</ul>
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A ‘traditional’ way that resources were calculated in underground mines (some mines still use this method (<a href="https://www.firstmajestic.com/_resources/assets/img/Cross-Section_of_the_Los_Rosarios_Mine.jpg" target="_blank">link</a>)), is that they extended the mineralization above and below the level by a distance equal to half-strike length, so for this area we can guesstimate the contained gold for the 2 stopes and see the impact of applying a cap:</div>
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Assumptions</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Strike length = 78m</li>
<li>Vertical extent = 78m (39m above and 39m below the level)</li>
<li>Average width = 2.23m</li>
<li>Tonnage factor/specific gravity = 3.13 t/m3 (from 2019 technical report – table 11.1)</li>
</ul>
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Guesstimate contained gold:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Uncapped = 21,150 oz</li>
<li>50 g/t Au cap = contained ounces drop to 15,128 oz</li>
<li>30 g/t Au Cap = Au decreases to 12,273 oz Au</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
Just applying a small cap, we've reduced the average grade and therefore the contained gold by a lot.<br />
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You can clearly see the impact that a few high-grade samples can have! This is why companies apply a cap, it makes the results less sexy, but is important, as if you don't, you can start to include a lot of waste with the ore and it works it way into the mine plan, which looks like it is happening here as we can see that the limits of the stopes (the black lines) include everything, including marginal (yellow) and waste (green, grey and white) portions of the vein.<br />
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Essentially, based on the channel samples gold grade distribution in the stope is more like this:</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-glNjyGqI2Ek/XSDlCLg0SKI/AAAAAAAAD6c/d7IcRlqHHy0ttlz6FPfZmievC8SdljOMACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/sssss.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-glNjyGqI2Ek/XSDlCLg0SKI/AAAAAAAAD6c/d7IcRlqHHy0ttlz6FPfZmievC8SdljOMACK4BGAYYCw/s640/sssss.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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We have some narrow high-grade zones (red), a large waste zone in the middle (green) and the majority of the block is low grade (orange) or marginal (yellow), which is <<16.95 g/t Au as originally advertised in the PR.<br />
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Why is this an issue? We can see that using a weighted average can skew the grade significantly (in this case by up to 40%), and in several mines that I know, they continue to use this 'traditional method' to define resources and zones to be mined.<br />
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A couple of high-grade samples/drill-holes can quickly add a chunk of mathematical resources that are have significantly higher grades than reality leading to large ares of sub-economic or marginal blocks being included in the resources and eventually mined.</div>
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This results in lower than expected head grades, lower gold production, lower revenues, higher per ounce production costs and reduced profits.<br />
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These are all things that shareholders love.<br />
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How many mines do you know where grades haven't met expectations or feasibility studies?</div>
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<h3>
2. Vein widths</h3>
<div>
<div>
One thing that I found amusing was that all the samples thicknesses range from 2.06 to 2.27m. Remarkably consistent!</div>
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However, when you look at the level plans, you see:</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QO8DQVZidcg/XSDo3C9DJgI/AAAAAAAAD6o/8IIGBZOT4AU3jAuPKJIOTV87WFj9mDpnACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QO8DQVZidcg/XSDo3C9DJgI/AAAAAAAAD6o/8IIGBZOT4AU3jAuPKJIOTV87WFj9mDpnACK4BGAYYCw/s640/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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That the vein is represented by a very thin red line, that is significantly narrower than the channel sample rectangles. That is the vein...</div>
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Here is a photo from the Fire Creek Mine in Nevada. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KMQ4wPU12eo/XSDxuNfqVSI/AAAAAAAAD60/U6vAvLpGPMkz3TspvwtU783ssPuKXk1wgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/sasasfdac.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KMQ4wPU12eo/XSDxuNfqVSI/AAAAAAAAD60/U6vAvLpGPMkz3TspvwtU783ssPuKXk1wgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/sasasfdac.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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See how they are not just sampling the vein, but the surrounding country rock (this is standard practice, you want to know the grade of everything you will be mining). In this photo the vein is ~90cm wide, and we can see that they are sampling ~1.5m either side of the vein, or a total channel sample width of ~3m. We can also see that a separate sample was taken from the small vein on the left. This is standard sampling practice.</div>
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So, if Continental are doing something similar, we would expect that they are sampling the vein, and 1m either side, which indicates that the vein is actually 5-27cm wide, which is similar to the drilled vein thicknesses (<a href="https://www.continentalgold.com/en/continental-gold-drills-visible-gold-in-all-holes-targeting-the-centena-vein-at-buritica/" target="_blank">link</a>).</div>
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High-grade but narrow, with a bit of gold in the country rock around the vein</div>
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Why is this an issue? Well in narrow vein mines, controlling dilution is critical, if you have excessive dilution, you will have:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>difficulty in maintaining a consistent head-grade</li>
<li>difficulty in using modern mining equipment</li>
<li>low production rates</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
You can use highly selective mining methods (e.g. Resue (<a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/321318937/Resue-Firing-and-Dilution-Control-in-Narrow-Vein-Mining" target="_blank">link</a>)), but they have low production rates. You can increase production by either using mechanized methods (increase dilution), or extracting ore from many heading (increased labor costs)</div>
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If you have a large mill, you need to mine a lot of material and therefore you can't be very selective be very selective. At Buritica, the mining width (based on the width of the mine level) appears to be ~2.5m, whereas the the vein widths (in this section of the mine) around 0.25m, so you already have massive dilution.</div>
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Minor changes in thickness of the vein or the inability to minimize mining widths and therefore minimize dilution can cascade through an operation, significantly impacting mine production and profitability.<br />
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How many mines have you read about that have had issues with grade control, or throughput?</div>
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We've see with Pretium at Brucejack where initial resource and reserve calculations appear to have struggled with accurately re-conciliating head-grades to estimated reserve/resource grades, that led to them implement a new comprehensive grade control program (with associated costs) to try and better understand the gold distribution.<br />
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I'm not saying that the same is happening at Buriticá, but history rhymes, we have a situation where a company wants to mine a series of narrow, high-grade veins and some of the PRs (obviosuly promotional in the way that the data is shows) appears to suggest that several areas could have significantly different grades as thought.<br />
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As we have seen at Brucejack (and several other underground mines), there is a desire to define as large a resource as possible, and as quickly as possible, which can lead to the situation where mine plans, scale of mining, are being advanced before the true nature of gold distribution in the veins is properly understood.<br />
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The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-11450445915182117702019-05-09T06:31:00.000-07:002019-05-09T06:31:28.773-07:00Chakana - BX1 - a perspective<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D-s06D3pUsk/XNQrcDQCeiI/AAAAAAAAD5A/eiLmpGMeTGgsBWlZFu0NuiABnSjqNeFNgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/BX1%2Bscale.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="472" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D-s06D3pUsk/XNQrcDQCeiI/AAAAAAAAD5A/eiLmpGMeTGgsBWlZFu0NuiABnSjqNeFNgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/BX1%2Bscale.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<br />The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-71865065145862313172019-05-06T13:25:00.000-07:002019-05-06T13:25:14.998-07:00Chakana CopperWe've been getting a few eye-watering drill results from Chakana Copper (<a href="https://www.chakanacopper.com/news/2019/chakana-intersects-22.8-metres-with-2.93-g-t-gold-1.37-copper-and-1-283.2-g-t-silver-21.80-g-t-au_eq-14.29-cu_eq-at-breccia/" target="_blank">link</a> and <a href="https://www.chakanacopper.com/news/2019/chakana-copper-releases-results-of-infill-drilling-at-breccia-pipe-5-and-provides-exploration-update-intersects-140.4-metres/" target="_blank">link</a>) from their various breccia pipes, which has led to them snagging Goldfields into pumping a chunk of change into the company (<a href="https://www.chakanacopper.com/news/2019/chakana-announces-cdn-8-million-strategic-investment-from-gold-fields-limited/" target="_blank">link</a>).<br />
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I've been casually following them and Soledad and I've always though that the breccia pipes are very small, and if there is a porphyry on the project, it would be too deep to do anything with.<br />
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So, I've finally managed to compiling the data into leapfrog (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OCP4pFfTMOQ5qFUV0GSqZPWEUEJ9-h7P/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">link</a>).<br />
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We can see that Chakana have drilled 25Km of drilling but appear to have 4 of the ~27 breccias identified so far on the project.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_1rIgkfnHj4/XNCMmnEEr-I/AAAAAAAAD34/o1qFc9uC01EojyIhq9JiwLct5dSX8NGswCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Chak%2Bdrilling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_1rIgkfnHj4/XNCMmnEEr-I/AAAAAAAAD34/o1qFc9uC01EojyIhq9JiwLct5dSX8NGswCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Chak%2Bdrilling.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Breccias everywhere</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If we look a bit closer at the pipes....<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k9wl_k2wQfs/XNCMuVQkQ1I/AAAAAAAAD4A/O7XFAY572RIGW0nXyXKE1CMOktkF_obAQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Pipes%2Bscale.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k9wl_k2wQfs/XNCMuVQkQ1I/AAAAAAAAD4A/O7XFAY572RIGW0nXyXKE1CMOktkF_obAQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Pipes%2Bscale.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Essentially the breccia pipes are very, very small, typically with a 50m x 50m surface expression, based on the 5 breccias that we have maps for.<br />
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<h3>
BX1</h3>
This has received the most drilling and has produced the best results.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KgX2IBcENaw/XNCQpGs45fI/AAAAAAAAD4Q/VtRFrJuGxkkYRDYBvfqSlpifYQT-aroRQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/BX1%2B-%2Bdrilling.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="344" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KgX2IBcENaw/XNCQpGs45fI/AAAAAAAAD4Q/VtRFrJuGxkkYRDYBvfqSlpifYQT-aroRQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/BX1%2B-%2Bdrilling.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
We can see that lots and lots of holes have been drilled down the guts of the BX1. However, unlike BX5 and 6 below, a few of the holes intersected a blind breccia body to the SW.<br />
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It also appears the the grades are decreasing with depth, but this may be a result of the holes leaving the breccias and drilling country rocks, but we can clearly see, the breccia body is small (75m x 25m with 300m vertical extent - of the >2% CuEq mineralization), but high-grade.<br />
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<h3>
BX5</h3>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-np5gAcofSbs/XNCQqboZXVI/AAAAAAAAD4c/cXETa3QfFs8VaT6XVOISZX7sPh3S0DD3wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/BX5.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="372" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-np5gAcofSbs/XNCQqboZXVI/AAAAAAAAD4c/cXETa3QfFs8VaT6XVOISZX7sPh3S0DD3wCK4BGAYYCw/s640/BX5.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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More drilling down the guts of the system, it is 50m x 50m, and has been drilled to 200m depth. It is lower grade than BX1, but consistently over 1% Cu. However, I'm not sure that this is good enough for a body that will be mined from underground, it may need to be >2% to be viable.<br />
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<h3>
BX6</h3>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5Xyc2DqfHq4/XNCQqiUbARI/AAAAAAAAD4g/3RimNQltSE4LxZ3N1sU0yI4PETqVldtAwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/BX6.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5Xyc2DqfHq4/XNCQqiUbARI/AAAAAAAAD4g/3RimNQltSE4LxZ3N1sU0yI4PETqVldtAwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/BX6.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
BX6 is another small breccia body, with more drilling down the middle. We have a high-grade (>3% CuEq) close to surface (supergene enrichment), before the hole pass into moderate grade breccias below. Nothing special here<br />
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I'm going to stick with my original opinions, even though BX1 shows that there are additional breccias that don't reach surface, I'm not convinced that Chakana will be able to define a significant resource at the project. They have enough drilling into the BX1, BX5 and BX6 breccias to give the market something, but my back of the envelope notes come up with ~2Mt, which isn't very much.<br />
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I can understand them flogging the porphyry potential. This is a valid model, but on their own sections they suggest that any porphyry body will be very deep and essentially unexplorable.<br />
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However, they have money from Goldfields, and would like them to move away from BX1 and drill a few holes into 5-10 different breccias to see they have other high-grade breccias similar to BX1 (e.g. Faro and Corral in the Western Breccia zone).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2GflXeLNEwo/XNCQrh6_9zI/AAAAAAAAD4o/cuju7lV3t0wVdvJAt3CZiK3auj6BIF2eQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/chakana%2Bsoil.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="488" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2GflXeLNEwo/XNCQrh6_9zI/AAAAAAAAD4o/cuju7lV3t0wVdvJAt3CZiK3auj6BIF2eQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/chakana%2Bsoil.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
Unless they find something amazing, and demonstrate that they can find enough breccias to define ~5Mt of material grading >2% CuEq, I don't see much value in the project on its own. However, with Hercules next door, could there be potential synergies with Lincuna? If the breccia bodies could be mined profitably from underground, maybe Lincuna would like some highly profitable ore to process (as long as it isn't too expensive to add a copper circuit to their mill)?The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-80337640183962482942019-04-13T21:41:00.001-07:002019-04-13T21:41:02.398-07:00Pretium - Lies, damn lies and ReservesI've been bashing Brucejack frequently over the 'difference' been mine grade and reserve grade, and with the release of the update resource and resource statement, I decided to look at how the reserves and resources have changed overtime (just for the VoK):<br />
<br />
Note: I've added dashed lines to the charts where data is missing (the Dec 2016 resource press release didn't include information for M&I and inferred resources).<br />
<br />
<h3>
Tonnes</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RHjHLcetSsQ/XLIUQIRiMJI/AAAAAAAAD2Y/ZXn5fDHf2tgLK647JWlMSIa-3VIbD2DQACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Bruce%2BR%2526R%2Btonnes.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="488" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RHjHLcetSsQ/XLIUQIRiMJI/AAAAAAAAD2Y/ZXn5fDHf2tgLK647JWlMSIa-3VIbD2DQACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Bruce%2BR%2526R%2Btonnes.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
We can see that that we had an initial increase in resources from 2011 to 2013 and then a leveling off as drilling focused on improving resource quality and converting resources to reserves. We see that recently drilling has also focused on increasing resources.<br />
<h3>
<br /></h3>
<h3>
Contained Ounces</h3>
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o1NzVlDtiE0/XLIUQrSj-uI/AAAAAAAAD2g/CorIBCwHZ0EIcFGPk-dM5SPSmR5Cw6iiQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Bruce%2BR%2526R%2Btot%2Boz.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="465" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o1NzVlDtiE0/XLIUQrSj-uI/AAAAAAAAD2g/CorIBCwHZ0EIcFGPk-dM5SPSmR5Cw6iiQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Bruce%2BR%2526R%2Btot%2Boz.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
Ounces have stayed relatively flt over time, we had very large growth in resources from 2011 to mid-2012, then the focus has been on improving the quality of the resources (from Inferred to Measured and indicated) and to reserves in 2016.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Average Grade</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z5_C7mp49gE/XLIa2N6DYkI/AAAAAAAAD3Q/z-W6A_prIKoCmQ-t8bmsThIMCRaITdvkACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Bruce%2B-%2Bgrades.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z5_C7mp49gE/XLIa2N6DYkI/AAAAAAAAD3Q/z-W6A_prIKoCmQ-t8bmsThIMCRaITdvkACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Bruce%2B-%2Bgrades.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
I've added a lines for the Life of mine (LOM) mine grades in the 2014 Feasibility Study (FS - orange line) and the new 2019 proposed mine grade (purple line), and one for the 2018 actual mine head grade (grey dashed line).<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Average grade (all resources) decreased from 22 g/t Au (2012) to 15.8 g/t Au (2019)</li>
<li>M&I resources <i><u>remained constant</u></i> since 2012 at ~17.1 g/t Au</li>
<li>Inferred resources decreased from 35 g/t Au (2012) to 17.7 g/t Au (2019)</li>
<li>Reserve grade <u><i>decreased</i></u> from 16.1 g/t Au to 13.8 g/t Au</li>
</ul>
<div>
Obviously the reserve and resource grades have dropped because of all the high-grade mineralization mined in 2018......</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
You will see that in many 43-101 reports the Inferred resources typically higher grade than the other resource categories, they are normally based on the lowest quality data (relatively speaking), the widest spaced drill-holes and can be heavily skewed by a few ultra high-grade holes. However, it is surprising that the grade of the inferred resources have fallen by such a large amount.<br />
<br />
This figure was also interesting in the press release:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iLGsQGbUfQE/XLK4D6yAp9I/AAAAAAAAD3c/SKKdaUG8NKweU22nxrnH6gIe8-84Nr7YQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/2018%2Bvs%2B2019%2Breserves.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iLGsQGbUfQE/XLK4D6yAp9I/AAAAAAAAD3c/SKKdaUG8NKweU22nxrnH6gIe8-84Nr7YQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/2018%2Bvs%2B2019%2Breserves.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
There was a lot of technical crap in the section accompanying this table, but in I think it means they mined 20% more material than planned, now this will be interesting to see going forward, especially with the mine being expanded to 3800 tonnes per day.<br />
<br />
Brucejack produces a lot of gold, but it keeps falling short.<br />
<br />
Data for these charts came from:<br />
<br />
Feb 2011 resources - <a href="https://www.pretivm.com/news/news-details/2011/Pretium-Resources-Inc-Brucejack-Bulk-Tonnage-Resource-Increases-By-134-Brucejack-High-Grade-Resource-Outlined/default.aspx" target="_blank">link</a><br />
<br />
Nov 2011 resources - <a href="https://www.pretivm.com/news/news-details/2011/Pretium-Resources-Inc-Significant-Increase-in-Brucejacks-Gold-Resources/default.aspx" target="_blank">link</a><br />
<br />
Apr 2012 resources - <a href="https://www.pretivm.com/news/news-details/2012/Pretium-Resources-Inc-High-Grade-Gold-Mineral-Resource-Estimate-Completed-for-Brucejack-Project/default.aspx" target="_blank">link</a><br />
<br />
Sept 2012 resources - <a href="https://www.pretivm.com/news/news-details/2012/Pretium-Resources-Inc-Updated-Interim-High-Grade-Mineral-Resource-Estimate-Completed-for-Brucejack-Project-/default.aspx" target="_blank">link</a><br />
<br />
Nov 2012 resources - <a href="https://www.pretivm.com/news/news-details/2012/Pretivm-Resources-Inc-Indicated-Gold-Resources-Increase-by-66-at-the-Valley-of-the-Kings/default.aspx" target="_blank">link</a><br />
<br />
Dec 2013 resources - <a href="https://www.pretivm.com/news/news-details/2013/Pretium-Resources-Inc-Mineral-Resource-Estimate-Adds-Measured-Gold-Resources-Increases-Grade-at-Valley-of-the-Kings/default.aspx" target="_blank">link</a><br />
<br />
July 2016 resources - <a href="https://www.pretivm.com/news/news-details/2016/Pretium-Resources-Inc-Valley-of-the-Kings-Positive-Mineral-Resource-Estimate-Update/default.aspx" target="_blank">link</a><br />
<br />
Dec 2016 reserves - <a href="https://www.pretivm.com/news/news-details/2016/Pretium-Resources-Inc-Positive-Valley-of-the-Kings-Mineral-Reserve-Update-Senior-Management-Changes/default.aspx" target="_blank">link</a><br />
<br />
Apr 2019 reserves and resources - <a href="https://www.pretivm.com/news/news-details/2019/Pretium-Resources-Inc-Continued-Robust-Economics-of-Brucejack-Mine-Confirmed-with-Updated-Mineral-Reserve-and-Resource-14-Year-Mine-Plan/default.aspx" target="_blank">link</a><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-56991204412087858482019-04-12T09:30:00.000-07:002019-04-12T09:30:03.657-07:00Garibaldi - The final cuts!!!!Results!!!!!!!!!!!<br />
<br />
Nothing special, nothing new, but after 4 months of waiting, Garibaldi have manged to publish the results from the final drill holes at Nickel mountain (<a href="http://www.garibaldiresources.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=848572&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=Garibaldi-Drills-6.19-Nickel-and-2.06-Copper-from-Surface-Over-4.4-Meters-i..." target="_blank">link</a>).<br />
<br />
We get a smattering of regional exploration holes (all hit nothing), some hole exploring the new (i.e. not found by Silver Standard in the 1960s) and some nice promo-BS holes drilling down the guts of the NE and NW zones, which, I'm guessing weren't as good as expected and would have had no impact on the releasing the results.....<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-miN4O7Kij8I/XLC5Y84-4ZI/AAAAAAAAD1M/1dQ2aDQQ-zss0jSfZaJt77GEG-AB5UF9QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/GGI%2Bplan%2Bmap%2Ball%2Bholes.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-miN4O7Kij8I/XLC5Y84-4ZI/AAAAAAAAD1M/1dQ2aDQQ-zss0jSfZaJt77GEG-AB5UF9QCK4BGAYYCw/s640/GGI%2Bplan%2Bmap%2Ball%2Bholes.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I'm only going to focus on the holes that were drilled in the NW and NE zones. A few holes have been drilled regionally, but they hit nothing, so we can forget about them. However, it would have been nice to have known what the holes were targeting (and maybe which geophysical anomaly), but that isn't the way that GGI operate.<br />
<br />
You can find my Leafrog model here and I've also incorporated the surface samples form the Crevasse massive sulfide (<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1C1zNGKSOGey7QMVLeG5Q9enLlQREiKP7" target="_blank">link</a>).<br />
<br />
<h3>
Northwest Zone - Explored by holes 36, 37 and 46.</h3>
<div>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Hole 36 </b><br />
Drilled to explore for the southern continuation of the NW zone, it intersected a 42 cm zone of massive sulfides just 17m south of the DDH_05 drilled by Silver Standard in the 1960s that intersected 9.5m @ 2% Ni.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WdGgLf52WaQ/XLC5aoYpVkI/AAAAAAAAD1U/cSNxHUxY74UCzJTrP2GzpdIDgGcdk0xdQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Section%2B-%2Bel%2B36.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="334" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WdGgLf52WaQ/XLC5aoYpVkI/AAAAAAAAD1U/cSNxHUxY74UCzJTrP2GzpdIDgGcdk0xdQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Section%2B-%2Bel%2B36.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking small</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Hole 37</b><br />
Vertical hole drilled 22m south of hole EL-17-12 (18m @ 1.15% Ni and 1.09% Cu), that hit a couple of low grade zones.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pZgMSJGdrjM/XLC5bct26HI/AAAAAAAAD1g/7HemHQPTWc49IP9uJf2MzWBBvqg4wx20ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Section%2B-%2Bel%2B37.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="393" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pZgMSJGdrjM/XLC5bct26HI/AAAAAAAAD1g/7HemHQPTWc49IP9uJf2MzWBBvqg4wx20ACK4BGAYYCw/s400/Section%2B-%2Bel%2B37.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thick intercepts of nothing</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Hole 46</b><br />
Unsurprisingly with the poor results from holes 36 and 37, the final hole in the area (and the 2018 program) was a nice BS-hole, designed to drill right through the guts of the mineralization to get as long an intercept as possible.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U8svxBnH4Lc/XLC5dzXHazI/AAAAAAAAD1o/txCXABryLdkd6HQK9UkQI9JKo13j7Y5OgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Section%2B-%2Bel%2B46.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U8svxBnH4Lc/XLC5dzXHazI/AAAAAAAAD1o/txCXABryLdkd6HQK9UkQI9JKo13j7Y5OgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Section%2B-%2Bel%2B46.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Should have made the hole a bit steeper</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The irony is, the hole did hit a wide zone of <1% Ni disseminated mineralization, but no high-grade and actually returned lower grades compared to adjacent holes (EL-17-05, 17-06, and DDH_05).<br />
<br />
Nice one guys!<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
NE and Crevasse Zone - explored by 5 holes.</h3>
<br />
I'm grouping these zones together as they all appear to be part of the same system.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IJSs9qgNx0k/XLC678x62oI/AAAAAAAAD2M/8GF5eJrpSGUS3NTqcIlSp4ioqvnpPMEQQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="392" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IJSs9qgNx0k/XLC678x62oI/AAAAAAAAD2M/8GF5eJrpSGUS3NTqcIlSp4ioqvnpPMEQQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
We see that the massive sulfides are found at the contact between the E&L intrusion (purple) and the Hazelton sediments (lime green), and by some amazing fluke (GGI would never have deliberately designed them to be to be BS-promo holes) all 5 holes have been accidentally collared right in top of the of the mapped massive sulfides.<br />
<br />
Unsurprisingly, all holes hit mineralization at surface, with each hole hitting a narrow (up to 1.5m core length) massive sulfide zone with minor (up to 18m) disseminated mineralization.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IKcjj6j_Dkw/XLC5neRVPUI/AAAAAAAAD14/tvzXZsDiYyAB7QyCY9Tkw2c81a7YLEnVQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Crevasse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IKcjj6j_Dkw/XLC5neRVPUI/AAAAAAAAD14/tvzXZsDiYyAB7QyCY9Tkw2c81a7YLEnVQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Crevasse.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Should have drilled a metric-fuck tonne of 50m holes and got lots of intercepts</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
With nearly 40 holes drilled into an area that measures 250m by 125m, I am keenly waiting for GGI to commence a resource calculation for Nickel Mountain. I'm sure that they have enough information.<br />
<br />
<br />
Joking aside, basically we see nothing new, the mineralization is restricted to small zones, there are areas where it can be expanded, but they are limited (and not everywhere as shown on the plan map accompanying the press release), but you need to remember:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Mineralization needs E&L Intrusion + Hazelton Sediments</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Missing either = no mineralization</div>
<br />
Why is this important - if GGI haven't rocks similar to the E&L Intrusion elsewhere on the property, then potential to discover additional mineralization is essentially zero.<br />
<br />
Note - for the pedants<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-29tRmYNRFUU/XLC5hkhy71I/AAAAAAAAD1w/DIHcHyBymbYMkNTRdXAeO4VHritjuuF1wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Map%2Berror.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="344" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-29tRmYNRFUU/XLC5hkhy71I/AAAAAAAAD1w/DIHcHyBymbYMkNTRdXAeO4VHritjuuF1wCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Map%2Berror.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br /></div>
The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-78140867803759774522019-03-27T17:33:00.003-07:002019-03-27T17:33:43.103-07:00Some Sugar on you Porphyry, Sir?Ahhh, mi viejo amigo El Cobre.<br />
<br />
The Poliquins have been releasing some juicy results from El Cobre over the last few weeks (<a href="https://www.azucarminerals.com/site/assets/files/3842/2019-03-20_nr_amz.pdf" target="_blank">link</a> and <a href="https://www.azucarminerals.com/site/assets/files/3841/2019-02-26_nr_amz.pdf" target="_blank">link</a>)<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Again, all we see is that they are drilling and re-drilling the same zones, it is now starting to get silly.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u8VBOttflp0/XJwWL42m6MI/AAAAAAAAD0Y/1TrgzNuapTsXXFryt_A2sQ82Pk6a4o28ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u8VBOttflp0/XJwWL42m6MI/AAAAAAAAD0Y/1TrgzNuapTsXXFryt_A2sQ82Pk6a4o28ACK4BGAYYCw/s640/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
To the surprise of no-one, they got similar results to the previous dozen or so holes drilled into the same area. We do see that holes 65 and 70 are exploring the eastern and western limits to mineralization, but there has been plenty of holes poked into those areas as well.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qjFpMEmJHQI/XJwWNETOC5I/AAAAAAAAD0g/S-RY8kVpA2YTz033ExBde6P4GQ9QI_0eQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qjFpMEmJHQI/XJwWNETOC5I/AAAAAAAAD0g/S-RY8kVpA2YTz033ExBde6P4GQ9QI_0eQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
I like the way that they drilled a nice shallow hole to make sure that they reamed the high-grade core rather than drilling below it and potentially adding some tonnes of hypothetical resources.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If we go back to the Feb release, where they did go and drill some of the other targets, all we see is Azucar drilling the known mineralization from a different angle, and getting nothing that is really any good.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fdnX-k5gzho/XJwWOLD-oJI/AAAAAAAAD0o/tm8Gca4oxcouPODEzaarGYHVSUxtQe0IgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fdnX-k5gzho/XJwWOLD-oJI/AAAAAAAAD0o/tm8Gca4oxcouPODEzaarGYHVSUxtQe0IgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
Generally, crap, narrow (for a porphyry) low grade mineralization. No-one in the porphyry world is going to get an erection over 0.2 g/t Au and 0.2% Cu (except for ValOro’s Tepal project where that would be high-grade).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Azucar, you’ve put ~40+ holes into El Cobre, a resource calculation is due, all you are doing now is dicking everyone around. All you are doing is demonstrating that you have a small moderate grade porphyry that isn’t going anywhere. The regional targets are generally crap, and that you re demonstrating you lack of imagination by drilling the same areas time and time and time again.</div>
<div>
What a waste.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One thing I hate in exploration is waste. Either wasting time (just by sitting on projects and doing nothing with them) or wasting money. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Azucar are wasting money, they could have easily reduced the amount of drilling at El Cobre by at least 50% (and probably by 75%) and have no meaningful reducing in the quality of information, and will all that extra cash, could have easily put a few holes into some of the other targets that showing in every presentation and press release.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If those targets are any good, why don't you stick a fecking hole in them!</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-67050748258490651192019-02-24T20:30:00.000-08:002019-02-24T20:30:19.110-08:00Garibaldi - some results, at last....Garibaldi, are you ill? The PDAC is weeks away, why did you suddenly decide to release the results from Nickel Mountain (<a href="http://www.garibaldiresources.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=845772&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=Garibaldi-Drills-7.7-Nickel-Over-4.8-Meters-Within-49-Meter-Intercept-in-Ne..." target="_blank">link</a>)?<br />
<br />
This release only contained the assays from holes 30 and 33, but the text pf the PR told us that that holes 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32 essentially hit nothing.<br />
<br />
Remember:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>drilling for stratigraphy/geology/ = we hit nothing </li>
<li>Testing the shape of the host rock/intrusion = we're not sure what is going on</li>
<li>collecting (in)valuable information = we're not sure what is going on</li>
</ul>
<br />
You can get the 3D model from here (<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1WUiefYDSG4HozSsDkU89aPFs8FBUS6Wi" target="_blank">link</a>).<br />
<br />
Here is a plan map showing where the various holes are located.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gAlJd8TZwPE/XHNt2cuJvPI/AAAAAAAAD0I/hFqOfLwZK3k_ouIFe3sVQ06p13z1LaeTQCLcBGAs/s1600/NM%2BPlan%2Bmap.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="705" height="381" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gAlJd8TZwPE/XHNt2cuJvPI/AAAAAAAAD0I/hFqOfLwZK3k_ouIFe3sVQ06p13z1LaeTQCLcBGAs/s400/NM%2BPlan%2Bmap.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Most of the holes are in the NW corner, the area where Ni mineralization was first found by Silver Standard in the 1960s.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It would have been nice to for Garibaldi to share with us the rest of the 2018 drill results, but they are still, errm, studying them.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UjF4oQ4b8h8/XHH5tEcjJpI/AAAAAAAADy0/dc-zubgVJy8AXgmRReW5lIdF7jv7NxYzQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/steve.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="114" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UjF4oQ4b8h8/XHH5tEcjJpI/AAAAAAAADy0/dc-zubgVJy8AXgmRReW5lIdF7jv7NxYzQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/steve.JPG" width="640" /></a>It's only been 3-4 months, but I'm sure people will be happy to wait a few more weeks.....<br />
<br />
So, without further ado, let's go through the holes:<br />
<br />
Note: I'm going to ignore holes (25, 26, 28, 29, and 32) drilled outside of the areas of known mineralization, as they essentially hit nothing. I was intrigued by Hole 29, that drilled one of the famous VTEM anomalies that Garibaldi had been squawking about for the last couple of years, but they hit nothing. The other reason is, we're not given any real info (e.g. maps or sections), probably because Silver Standard didn't do any work in those areas in the 1960s, about each hole, just a short descriptive paragraph.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Hole 27</b><br />
This was designed to test the continuation of the NW Zone. The hole hit nothing, even though it came within ~20m of the massive sulfides hit in hole EL-17-08<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JyCcY4np2j0/XHNqgzyGsuI/AAAAAAAADzU/lQ_XwOE4NsYzazMrE5sNVcGRHHMlrNjywCLcBGAs/s1600/EL-18-27.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="1266" height="245" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JyCcY4np2j0/XHNqgzyGsuI/AAAAAAAADzU/lQ_XwOE4NsYzazMrE5sNVcGRHHMlrNjywCLcBGAs/s400/EL-18-27.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
We're told that it was an important hole "to help map out the extent and shape of the Intrusive complex". This is company BS-speak to save face, the hole as designed to hit the NW sulfide zone, but <strike>provided invaluable geological information</strike> hit nothing<br />
<br />
<b>Hole 30</b><br />
This hole did actually get some mineralization. It hit 3 separate zones of Ni-Cu mineralization.<br />
A zone at surface, which amazingly wasn't seen in hole 33 that was drilled literally centimeters (25 to be exact) from hole 30.<br />
Mineralization, Consistent? Not!<br />
<br />
However, it wasn't all doom and gloom. The hole hit a nice massive sulfide zone at 73m depth.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--otb-0lnT9U/XHIrxD_ZROI/AAAAAAAADzA/mgicNt4KN_E9Pv82dtwVkCKFtOrWpt55wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/hole%2B30.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--otb-0lnT9U/XHIrxD_ZROI/AAAAAAAADzA/mgicNt4KN_E9Pv82dtwVkCKFtOrWpt55wCK4BGAYYCw/s320/hole%2B30.JPG" width="281" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some nice grade smearing....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Garibaldi nicely smeared the grade, we actually have a core 3.2m massive sulfide zone surrounded by a 6.5m low-grade halo. We can also see that the hole was drilled just 12m from the massive sulfide hit in drill-hole EL-18-23. So, not a massive step-out.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ygl8lRlxOk0/XHNqvNaW3XI/AAAAAAAADzc/dSmpXRQl2M4Yyedque13wMYXj_B8pJulgCLcBGAs/s1600/Hole%2B30%2Band%2B33%2Bpln.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="795" data-original-width="874" height="363" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ygl8lRlxOk0/XHNqvNaW3XI/AAAAAAAADzc/dSmpXRQl2M4Yyedque13wMYXj_B8pJulgCLcBGAs/s400/Hole%2B30%2Band%2B33%2Bpln.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<b>Hole 31</b><br />
This was drilled to explore for the eastern continuation of the Discovery Zone. The hole was drilled just 40m away from holes EL-17-10 and EL-18-16 that both hit 9-10m of massive sulfides grading >7% Ni, but hole 31 hit nothing, not even a skid-mark. This shows how discrete the mineralization is.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CGAII_h3ucY/XHNquyxr6SI/AAAAAAAADzY/eh0jF3zdBYQo42xmBHryILE-nhAceQilACLcBGAs/s1600/31.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="988" height="318" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CGAII_h3ucY/XHNquyxr6SI/AAAAAAAADzY/eh0jF3zdBYQo42xmBHryILE-nhAceQilACLcBGAs/s400/31.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>Hole 33</b><br />
The 'good' hole. This as drilled to explore for the northern continuation of the massive sulfide zone lower discovery zone.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x65fSB4eiAk/XHIrxqMZ6tI/AAAAAAAADzI/1EputcqAkf0hkZq5SToFmqgL5G9qTT7_QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/hole%2B33.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x65fSB4eiAk/XHIrxqMZ6tI/AAAAAAAADzI/1EputcqAkf0hkZq5SToFmqgL5G9qTT7_QCK4BGAYYCw/s320/hole%2B33.JPG" width="277" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">50% of the Nickel in just 10% of the mineralized interval</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Again we see massive grade smearing, a small massive sulfide zone in wide disseminated zone, and again we see this hole is only 14m from from previous massive sulfide intercepts.<br />
<br />
When we look at the various sections we see that Hazelton group occurs as small, irregular pendants and blocks within the large Nickel Mountain Gabbro complex. Through all of this we have the sub-vertical E&L intrusion emplaced.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XSIutTGETvE/XHNqvtWudUI/AAAAAAAADzk/p7X0iQsvfZo43Z6NNH8IoztZWbZ0Vm_sgCEwYBhgL/s1600/section.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1033" height="484" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XSIutTGETvE/XHNqvtWudUI/AAAAAAAADzk/p7X0iQsvfZo43Z6NNH8IoztZWbZ0Vm_sgCEwYBhgL/s640/section.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
We can clearly see that the mineralization occurs at the contact between the E&L Intrusion and the Hazelton group, i.e.<br />
<br />
E&L Intrusion + Hazelton Group = Nickel Mineralization<br />
E&L Intrusion w/o Hazelton group = No Nickel Mineralization<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FrKlFSZzyYY/XHNs_GuZvJI/AAAAAAAADz8/S24oTtO5rEUKkf_e2zAREF1SgT6c4RQuwCLcBGAs/s1600/plan.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1143" height="432" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FrKlFSZzyYY/XHNs_GuZvJI/AAAAAAAADz8/S24oTtO5rEUKkf_e2zAREF1SgT6c4RQuwCLcBGAs/s640/plan.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I still think this is because the Hazelton group is contains Sulfur in the form of pyrite (hole 29 supports this). The E&L intrusion is Nickel rich, but sulfur poor and therefore can't precipitate Ni in the form of Pentlandite (an Iron Nickel Sulfide - formula ~FeNiS).<br />
<br />
So we have, highly irregular contact between two small rock units that have formed a few small, high-grade irregular pods. Not exactly a geological situation that lends itself to forming a large deposit.<br />
<br />
<br />The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-88040688027795268122019-02-15T18:04:00.002-08:002019-02-16T07:06:44.002-08:00Anta Kori UpdateI haven't been following Regulus to closely for the last 6 months, but I decided to compile the new drilling data (link and link) and see what they have been finding, and how the new drilling may impact the overall resources for the project.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: white;">Background blurb:</span></h3>
The original resource for Anta Kori was done waaaaay back in 2012 for South Legacy, but if you read through it, it is very light-weight, we don’t get any information on:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Where the resources are located – not even a simple map</li>
<ul>
<li>Where are the open-pitable resource located?</li>
<li>And the underground resource? Where is it, how will they mine it, from the bottom of the pit?</li>
</ul>
<li>No images or sections of the block model showing grade distribution etc.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
It is a crap report, a quick and dirty resource calculation. I especially hated the way that they used every metal under the sun to calculate the CuEq grades for the various resource cut-offs.<br />
<br />
In essence, it is a crap report.<br />
<br />
However, table 14.7 did give a breakdown of the global resources (i.e. not constrained by property boundaries). I wanted to see if I could create a base model from the historic data that could match it, with the idea that I could bring in the recent drilling results and see what happens.<br />
<br />
However, I have a big problem:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-En-G59YKRXU/XGYMAuDVj2I/AAAAAAAADwc/_60TOYpLw6cqnBMk83SGj3DbUfgALwgYQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Scott%2BWilson%2Bresources.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="410" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-En-G59YKRXU/XGYMAuDVj2I/AAAAAAAADwc/_60TOYpLw6cqnBMk83SGj3DbUfgALwgYQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Scott%2BWilson%2Bresources.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
Look at this table in detail, start with the first row. Write out the total contain metals in full (i.e. including the “0” in the column headings. Do you get:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>519,541,000 tonnes or ~520Mt that contain</li>
<ul>
<li>4,429,000 lbs of copper – just 4.4Mlbs</li>
<li>126,335,000 oz of gold – 126 million ounces of gold </li>
<li>3,989,155,000 oz of Silver – just under 4 billion ounces of silver</li>
<li>10,598,000 lbs of Moly</li>
<li>572,695,000 lbs of Lead</li>
<li>2,172,276,000 lbs of Zinc</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Damn it, Southern Legacy found South America’s largest gold deposit and second largest silver deposit. Who gives a shit about copper with all that lovely gold and silver.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, as I’m an idiot, I decided to try and work out WTF was going on, brought the data into excel and calculated the amount of contained metal for each element (basically took the tonnage and multiplied it by the grade provided).<br />
<br />
And you get….<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8XDQHDTRxAg/XGYMBzwRJxI/AAAAAAAADwo/UJ-ajgELfQ8n_UMkcHkmEtIxr0hkNqZ8ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/AK%2BSW%2Bactual%2Bnumbers.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8XDQHDTRxAg/XGYMBzwRJxI/AAAAAAAADwo/UJ-ajgELfQ8n_UMkcHkmEtIxr0hkNqZ8ACK4BGAYYCw/s640/AK%2BSW%2Bactual%2Bnumbers.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
There are some slight differences:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>~30% reduction in contained copper (assuming the table was referring to Billions pounds of copper).</li>
<li>~45% increase in gold (I have assumed that they put the contained gold under the contained silver column)</li>
<li>Silver, lead and zinc stay the same (assuming that the contained silver was put under the contained gold column)</li>
<li>~80% drop in contained Moly</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Generally, very painful news, but the extra couple of million ounces of gold is a nice bonus.<br />
<br />
The silly thing is, table 14.5 that splits the resource into Open Pit and underground areas, i.e. the one on Regulus’ website is fine.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: red;">WARNING: These guesstimate calculations are complete BS. They are based on grade only, and are designed to give a feel to what Regulus have added to the project.</span></b><br />
<br />
This is a global guesstimate, I haven't split out mineralization by type, I have assumed everything is the same, which we know is wrong as the high-grade intercepts are restricted to narrow, sub-vertical breccia bodies and veins.<br />
<br />
I've included a Leapfrog 3D viewer file here of the various iterations (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_oK7nwzAiVj5oAHeuWzQmEZQeK1UmbD_/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">link</a>)<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: white;">Notes:</span></b><br />
I’ve used the CuEq values, but in the recent drilling these have been calculated from Cu+Au+Ag only, not everything including the kitchen sink as used in the 2012 technical report.<br />
I haven’t factored in mining type, property ownership or recoveries. I’m treating it as a single deposit, calculating the global resources and then clipping it by property boundary to see how much is in Regulus’ concessions..<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: white;">TAG Guesstimate Global Historic resources</span></h3>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UGbJIWsBOTk/XGYMaaIJ1jI/AAAAAAAADw4/ukJ1L4oi3aQvrpm5fZSFAHODQp2usTmpwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/AK%2B-%2BTAG%2Bvs%2BOriginal%2BResources.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="404" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UGbJIWsBOTk/XGYMaaIJ1jI/AAAAAAAADw4/ukJ1L4oi3aQvrpm5fZSFAHODQp2usTmpwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/AK%2B-%2BTAG%2Bvs%2BOriginal%2BResources.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
So we get close, I have slightly less tonnes and a slightly smaller CuEq grade (0.48% vs 0.51% from the 2012 technical report).<br />
<br />
When we compare the drilling we can see that Regulus have done a lot of work.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: white;">Before Regulus:</span></b><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C4NZfaQULOE/XGYMjJEZHWI/AAAAAAAADxA/u6uvoTOlP2Al8L0T7UbhM0MoCcdmBdWEwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/AK%2BLS%2B-%2Bpre%2BReg%2BDH.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="408" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C4NZfaQULOE/XGYMjJEZHWI/AAAAAAAADxA/u6uvoTOlP2Al8L0T7UbhM0MoCcdmBdWEwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/AK%2BLS%2B-%2Bpre%2BReg%2BDH.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: white;">Regulus:</span></b><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LU_KZUtXrfM/XGYMkHiyVhI/AAAAAAAADxI/IX2QgdN87isSzJuyuhGfbcF7nsSdAHfLgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/AK%2BLS%2B-%2Ball%2BDH.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="408" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LU_KZUtXrfM/XGYMkHiyVhI/AAAAAAAADxI/IX2QgdN87isSzJuyuhGfbcF7nsSdAHfLgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/AK%2BLS%2B-%2Ball%2BDH.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">lots more copper intercepts</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We see a lot more holes, drilled to much greater depths exploring for the Skarn mineralization that was of secondary interest to Southern Legacy who were mainly focusing on the near surface high-sulfidation gold dominant mineralization.<br />
<br />
So, what impact does that have on the project ‘resources’?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xjImX5VwQ5o/XGYMvvHma1I/AAAAAAAADxU/ImhZaJ8Jckgz41sZIaQ7Tn79ToN1F4SKACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/AK%2Bupdated%2BTAG%2Bresources%2B-%2Ball.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xjImX5VwQ5o/XGYMvvHma1I/AAAAAAAADxU/ImhZaJ8Jckgz41sZIaQ7Tn79ToN1F4SKACK4BGAYYCw/s640/AK%2Bupdated%2BTAG%2Bresources%2B-%2Ball.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
Potentially a lot.<br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: red;">WARNING: I've assumed that all the mineralization is the same, I haven't separated by skarn vs HS vs breccia vs vein. It will be an over-estimate.</span></b><br />
<br />
If we clip it by property boundary:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rlXFoBSQtS8/XGYMxGaMx9I/AAAAAAAADxc/fD7kzldffwUDb0x9-qD8HmUpflXAzwbkACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/AK%2Bupdated%2BTAG%2Bresources%2B-%2BREG.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="406" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rlXFoBSQtS8/XGYMxGaMx9I/AAAAAAAADxc/fD7kzldffwUDb0x9-qD8HmUpflXAzwbkACK4BGAYYCw/s640/AK%2Bupdated%2BTAG%2Bresources%2B-%2BREG.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
We see that the majority is on Regulus’ concessions. This is biased by the fact that they can’t report the intercepts that do not occur on their concessions. <br />
However, when we put the global resource figures on the USGS Porphyry Copper chart we see this:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JCeKK2wCBDM/XGYM1YLR1bI/AAAAAAAADxk/tYUjbnLGlb4iPIlKn-KzOPrQgzVn4MnaACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/AK%2Blocation%2B-%2Bglobal.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="353" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JCeKK2wCBDM/XGYM1YLR1bI/AAAAAAAADxk/tYUjbnLGlb4iPIlKn-KzOPrQgzVn4MnaACK4BGAYYCw/s640/AK%2Blocation%2B-%2Bglobal.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
*CuEq figure form the 2012 Technical report, but just using Cu, Au and Ag<br />
<br />
If we look at the global resources, the average grade of Anta Kori wasn’t quite good enough. However, if we look at the high-grade (>0.5% CuEq) core of the system, we see that the project changes completely.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BRM9CNwGNFo/XGgmuye5AvI/AAAAAAAADyg/h7r_jZp4GmsKUZVtvzn0XT-zYOXWrVAZACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BRM9CNwGNFo/XGgmuye5AvI/AAAAAAAADyg/h7r_jZp4GmsKUZVtvzn0XT-zYOXWrVAZACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
It now sits firmly in the ‘good’ area of the chart.<br />
<br />
<b style="color: white;">TL:DR version</b><br />
<b style="color: white;"><br /></b>
Regulus have done a lot of work at Anta Kori that should lead to a decent jump up in resources. The key here is to look beyond the overall tonnage to see how much high-grade (>0.5% CuEq) material they have.<br />
<br />
An important question to ask or at least think about is - How will Regulus report their upcoming resources? With the agreement with Coimolache allow them to report a global resource or will they only be able to report the mineralization that occurs on their concessions?<br />
<b style="color: white;">An Observation</b><br />
On the plan map that accompanies the last PR we see hole AK30 sitting way out to the NW all on its own. Why did Regulus drill such an anti-social hole?<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fau6Xno9aAI/XGYM-z--WAI/AAAAAAAADx0/fHxC7jYUJYsnisfSOFnPhx-9AS9RJR7MQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/mag%2Bcomments.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fau6Xno9aAI/XGYM-z--WAI/AAAAAAAADx0/fHxC7jYUJYsnisfSOFnPhx-9AS9RJR7MQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/mag%2Bcomments.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
If we look a bit closer we see that the hole starts on Coimolache ground, suggesting that Regulus are still working with the Coimolache permits. This may mean that they still haven’t been granted their own permits to drill in that area.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2hAYgAke-VI/XGYNBoT-v_I/AAAAAAAADyA/_TmHcEYEo08bqLy0Eufw0McOTeP-nBc4wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/ak30.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="344" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2hAYgAke-VI/XGYNBoT-v_I/AAAAAAAADyA/_TmHcEYEo08bqLy0Eufw0McOTeP-nBc4wCK4BGAYYCw/s640/ak30.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
It looks like the hole is testing the contact between the limestones and porphyry, but without a decent surface geology map to help, it is hard to know why they have been drilling ~500m to the NW of the known mineralization. It is a low risk hole, if it gets something, then they’ll have expanded the footprint significantly, but if it gets nothing, no-one will really care.<br />
<br />The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-57428921296202845722019-02-14T17:05:00.002-08:002019-02-14T17:05:24.682-08:00Garibaldi BSHappy Valentine's day, a time of friendship and goodwill.<br />
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So it is nice to see that it has been 106 days since Garibaldi last released any drill results from Nickel Mountain (<a href="http://www.garibaldiresources.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=839286&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=Garibaldi-Drills-into-Nickel-Copper-Rich-Massive-Sulphides-Northwest-and-So..." target="_blank">link</a>).<br />
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We were nicely told back in December (<a href="http://www.garibaldiresources.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=841623&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=Garibaldi-Broadens-Nickel-Mountain-System" target="_blank">link</a>) that they successfully completed the first full season of drilling, producing 11,573m of core.<br />
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So we are still waiting for results from 22 holes, or 2/3 of the program, which as GGI tell us:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b2z58kQlpYo/XGYP14pLDYI/AAAAAAAADyU/2_ttUxLBvxI6xW5qgenBh7LEaPpO5c3VwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/GGI.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="64" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b2z58kQlpYo/XGYP14pLDYI/AAAAAAAADyU/2_ttUxLBvxI6xW5qgenBh7LEaPpO5c3VwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/GGI.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Damn, you guys must be really slow if it takes you that long to interpret the results.....<br />
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Maybe we'll get something in time for the PDAC....<br />
<br />The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-91697180262664626502019-02-01T11:37:00.004-08:002019-02-01T11:37:59.044-08:00Sun Metals - Stardust in Central BCThere are very few 'new' discoveries being made, and most junior explorers are flogging dead dogs that have been around for such a long time that most you can ignore.<br />
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This was my initial opinion of Sun Metal's Stardust project, it had a tiny resource but has had a lot of work done on it, ~398 RC and diamond holes, or ~70Km of drilling.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SuncBKiy4T0/XFSfKrnj2lI/AAAAAAAADus/55YjoXVajy43ahGHyfvrsYDuA8eOdGiLACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Stardust%2Bresources.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SuncBKiy4T0/XFSfKrnj2lI/AAAAAAAADus/55YjoXVajy43ahGHyfvrsYDuA8eOdGiLACK4BGAYYCw/s400/Stardust%2Bresources.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not much here</td></tr>
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What a POS - a small, low-grade, well explored project in the middle of nowhere. The didn't seem to be much potential in the existing resources. They appeared to consist of a series of narrow, variable grade zones that have had the crap drilled out of them. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iTItCFSXqxg/XFSfL8L9YEI/AAAAAAAADu0/wCyCALna1EU-TWtTY0_tltwrNpRV-TE1ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/rsources.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iTItCFSXqxg/XFSfL8L9YEI/AAAAAAAADu0/wCyCALna1EU-TWtTY0_tltwrNpRV-TE1ACK4BGAYYCw/s640/rsources.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">lots of narrow zones</td></tr>
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So where were Sun Metal's going to find more mineralization? Projects like Stardust are quite common for it to go any further, you want to see some potential that it could host resources around >10Mt @ >3% CuEq to get a mid-tier miner (e.g. Crapstone) involved.<br />
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I'm just focusing on the skarn mineralization. I know that the project has several other mineralization styles, but they aren't the focus on the technical report, which suggests that they aren't important economically. You can get the 3D model from here (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o9n5mPhlEuuxK_NYTG1JmoSNGFG28-rf/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">link</a>), there was only a small proportion of the historic data that I could get in.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AmCKenx1lpw/XFSfNXtJwII/AAAAAAAADu8/8SmjelfOol00rGF1t5t67qIo7BAWofD_QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Stardust%2Bmin%2Bzones.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="377" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AmCKenx1lpw/XFSfNXtJwII/AAAAAAAADu8/8SmjelfOol00rGF1t5t67qIo7BAWofD_QCK4BGAYYCw/s400/Stardust%2Bmin%2Bzones.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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For those getting massive erections from the Porphyry zone, it has been drilled and no results are mentioned in the technical report, so I assume that it is unmineralized, but the lack of mineralization in it could be:<br />
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<li><b>Negative </b>(the majority of intrusive rocks) the magma that formed the stock was relatively metal poor, and therefore any mineralization associated with it will be small and uneconomic.</li>
<li><b>Positive </b>(e.g. Santa Eulalia, Mexico; Taylor, Arizona, Las Bambas, Peru to name a few) – the stock was emplaced into a reactive rock (the limestones) that 'sucked' out all of the metals to form large skarn/CRD bodies leaving the behind an unmineralized porphyry.</li>
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However, the recent drilling (<a href="https://sunmetals.ca/news/2018/sun-metals-intersects-100-metres-grading-5-percent-copper-equivalent-in-drill-hole-at-stardust-project/" target="_blank">link</a> and <a href="https://sunmetals.ca/news/2018/retraction-and-correction-to-news-release-dated-october-25-2018/" target="_blank">link</a>) did look interesting. I wanted to check that they were doing more than confirmation drilling, i.e. twinning good old holes to con people into believing that they had found something new.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7d5kOL_yzo/XFSfXLqoAUI/AAAAAAAADvM/4VDwQ1v4qxoD9b33yX0njbPWOOvN4OyVwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/2018%2Bdrilling.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7d5kOL_yzo/XFSfXLqoAUI/AAAAAAAADvM/4VDwQ1v4qxoD9b33yX0njbPWOOvN4OyVwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/2018%2Bdrilling.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Simply put, they did a bit of both. Tested the known zones (probably because the historic core is missing), and they tested a few geophysical targets.<br />
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The good news that came out in October was from a confirmation hole (i.e. one that was drilled into an area that had been drilled before), and we got this section.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WJbOG2dN-Bw/XFSfYj3XPwI/AAAAAAAADvU/Zk2GBvs8Rk8pfdXPBMhwG_B5NCYOcOXbQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Skarn%2Bsection.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="470" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WJbOG2dN-Bw/XFSfYj3XPwI/AAAAAAAADvU/Zk2GBvs8Rk8pfdXPBMhwG_B5NCYOcOXbQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Skarn%2Bsection.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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We can clearly see that the majority of the skarns are hosted in narrow limestone units within the phyllite package, which explains the narrow, irregular nature of the resources, which is not a good situation if you want to find a big deposit!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x6L2mFZzaMY/XFSf6Adps9I/AAAAAAAADvw/k6iRxdI5v9sF4r1dfa2oNYGDMX4H7I0PgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x6L2mFZzaMY/XFSf6Adps9I/AAAAAAAADvw/k6iRxdI5v9sF4r1dfa2oNYGDMX4H7I0PgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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However, drill-hole 18SD-421 was good, it drilled through the phyllites and passed into the underlying limestones where it intersected 2 previously unknown, thick, high-grade skarn/massive sulfide zones.<br />
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This is great news as it shows that Sun Metals has found something new, rather than rehashing old news, and it appears that this phyllite-limestone contact is virtually undrilled! This zone appears to be open in most directions, especially up-dip.<br />
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The down-dip potential could be limited by hole LD2010-02 that may have drilled the down-dip continuation of this zone but hit nothing, but the hole may have been terminated before hitting the mineralized horizon.<br />
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I don't know the ground conditions at Stardust, but maybe there is an opportunity to reenter and extend holes 013 and 016 to drill through the phyllite-limestone contact as this would allow them to quickly determine (in 2D) the orientation and up-dip extent of this new skarn zone.<br />
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In summary, Sun Metals have a well explored project, but the discovery by hole 421 has identified a new target that has returned the highest-grade and thickest skarn intercepts on the project. However, with just a single hole intersecting this zone it is very hard to determine its size potential. </div>
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In addition, they may want to look at conducting a down-hole geophysical survey, for example Mise-à-la-masse that has been used successfully in many other polymetallic sulphide deposits to determine its lateral extents.</div>
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The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272793377504221569.post-7822487111988426622019-01-16T20:53:00.000-08:002019-01-16T20:53:00.877-08:00Serengeti - Buffing the BananaSomeone asked me to look at Serengeti's Kerwanka project in BC.<br />
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You have to give credit, Serengeti's team have been hard at pounding the <span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">the bald-headed moose, cranking the shank, and feeling their way around Kerwanka.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">However, the problem with d</span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">ancing with the one-eyed driller is that once in a while you have to c</span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">onsulting with your silent partner to see if the project is good enough for a o</span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">ne gun salute.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">So why don't we stop serenading </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">Mrs. Palmer and her five daughters by letting go of the </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">one-stringed guitar and have a look:</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_mjt4UhkbJU/XD6neBr6S4I/AAAAAAAADuE/xSUAl2XY4l8Vev0yPwwCRQj5QdyxLigMgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/kwanka.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_mjt4UhkbJU/XD6neBr6S4I/AAAAAAAADuE/xSUAl2XY4l8Vev0yPwwCRQj5QdyxLigMgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/kwanka.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">what a load of crap</td></tr>
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Wow, the open pit resources are terrible and the the underground "resources" are just a Cu(m) stain.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ySj-5dF-Pgc/XD6oJssQOyI/AAAAAAAADuY/DH4r49DAtP8PxFTYFrzl1Mj_y9f7qjlkACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/kwanka%2B-%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bshit%2Bzone.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ySj-5dF-Pgc/XD6oJssQOyI/AAAAAAAADuY/DH4r49DAtP8PxFTYFrzl1Mj_y9f7qjlkACK4BGAYYCw/s640/kwanka%2B-%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bshit%2Bzone.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
So basically, they could define >10 billion tonnes at a similar grade and it would still be too shit to put into production.<br />
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For amusement, here is the Kerwanka underground resource plotted against the mighty proposed block cave operations<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b64fefLdW0k/XD6n6y9R40I/AAAAAAAADuQ/GKzYhSAjRdcY156at_wR9YtxB6WmvoTRQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/kwanka%2B2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="470" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b64fefLdW0k/XD6n6y9R40I/AAAAAAAADuQ/GKzYhSAjRdcY156at_wR9YtxB6WmvoTRQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/kwanka%2B2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well, someone has to come last...</td></tr>
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So basically, all that hard work m<span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">ilking the moose, fly fishing and h</span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">oisting the petard still means that the project is crap. </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">That's enough to make the </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">the bald man cry</span><br />
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<br />The Angry Geologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04955645007432969022noreply@blogger.com25