No doubt they could could copter in a drill rig or all 3 of them to the saki camp. They could for sure commence drilling next month if they have outlined the location of the first holes. I totally agree with you on your previous post about FNT making it clear to the PNG gov that they intend to do business. Another positive to an early start is the weather. It is just now the beginning of the dry season and will be till November.
My hesitance just comes from potential logistical problems and risk analysis. I'm referring to the amount of data from which they are to make a plan to make a case for advancing geological modelling. From what I can gather there has been a number of field sampling programs numbering hundreds of samples and 2 drill campaigns numbering 49 drill holes and over 5km of core. A number of attempts have been made to model where Saki fits into the Tolukuma system and I think that has been established. Where to drill with these relatively slow drills is the problem. When looking at the previous drilling, its obvious that the intercepts are relatively thin and not on average high grade. I haven't averaged the grade and thickness but I'd say 0.5m at 5g/t is fairly good at Saki. Sure there are better than this but not many, but the burning question is, are they going to risk the first 2 -3 holes having results less than this for a months work and the 1st results announced in July after logging and the wait for assays. IMO they should try to nail the first drilling to gain attention rather than just average results which I think are going to impact negatively in the market. If FNT were a bigger company this would not be such an issue. Perhaps they already have this best case scenario plan together.
The logistical problems are not impossible to overcome but they also cause fast tracking this to be problematic. Even though you would think there is a road to Tolukuma, none seem to be there. The closest announced all weather road is 20kms away. That leaves coptering in supplies etc. Lots of humping the portable drill pieces from site to site through jungle and hills. If the old drill sites had tracks made 20 years ago, they are completely overgrown now. It is not much different from the sugama drilling at Bulago and if you all remember what an effort that was to drill 4 holes and how long it took. No doubt they will get much needed help from the locals and keep them employed and happy during the process.
Then we have covid19. it hasn't impacted badly yet into PNG. When it does, its anybodies guess what the gov will do. A field crew to manage the drills and site from Australia also have travel restrictions with isolation and all the drama. These are some of the reasons why an immediate start with drilling on saki is IMO not likely. I wouldn't be surprised if they do another field trip for another ground sampling and to survey out the drill pad locations.
FNT Price at posting:
0.8¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
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