A quick comment on today's ASX release. It was most pleasing to see that the average channel samples from the underground mine areas are in the same ball park of the original channel samples from the veins reported late last year. Ball park averages for vein HV-02 was 8-10% Pb-Zn and 30-100 g/t Ag which is more than economic if it is accompanied with a decent tonnage. Ball park averages for the new NS vein were 7-10% Pb-Zn and 45-90 g/t Ag, so again most encouraging. It was also reassuring to see that there is some consistency in the grades for both the new vein and that of HV 02. You want to see some repeat-ability of results as it gives you greater confidence that these grades may be representative of the overall mineralisation.
There is still a fair degree of variability in grades, both in the channel samples and for the drill results for hole 15 into the Callancocha fault/feeder zone. Given the style and nature of the mineralisation that is not unexpected and it is clear that we are going to need a lot more channel sampling (as against "spot" sampling of small intercepts in drill holes) to have the level of confidence on what overall average grades might be. Still today's' averages are most encouraging and auger well for the future, especially if we end up with a decent tonnage here.
With respect to this point, the fact that we have multiple veins and mantos and they keep finding new ones gives confidence on this front as well. Whilst many of the veins are narrow (average of 1 m or less) the interconnected nature of them and the fact that a number of them have been demonstrated to thicken and interconnect at depth is most encouraging. So to is the size of the priority target area of the Callancocha fault/feeder zone. Whilst the larger intercepts have been low grade, there are zones of higher grade and the size of the target area (60,000 m2 on surface or 12 million cubic meters - or around 30-35 million tonnes - to 200 m depth) is one exciting target.
Still a long way to go (I keep saying that exploration is a long game!) but another tick in the box and I was most pleased and relieved to see the average grades for the underground channel sampling in the same ball park as the vein channel samples reported late last year. For me, this adds some confidence that the channel sample grades are likely to be more representative of average grades than some of the patchy and low grades reported for various drill intercepts and that the latter are most likely a consequence of weathering and the 'leaching' of mineralisation by ground water etc.
My gut tells me that we have something special here (and not just at Humaspunco Hill) but that it will be a slowly evolving story rather than a quick paradigm shift. That will require faith and patience and it may take time for the market and shareholders to come to this realisation.
ICG Price at posting:
0.8¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
