the next ph???, page-19

Horsetrader

Bit of a breakdown for you for drilling times.

Diamond drilling times are completely dependent on ground conditions, it is hard to say but I guess on average in competent rock like at Prominent Hill you could get between 50 to 100 meters a day on a good day.

So a lot of the holes there would be very deep, between say 500 up to 800 meters depth depending on the depth to geological targets.

So say for a 500 meter deep hole averaging 75 meters a day over two shifts you could drill a hole in 7 days. The hole then needs to have the following completed:

- logging
- geotech
- structural measurements
- SG's and mag sus
- cutting
- sampling

The time taken to complete this work depends on how many geo's are working on it and workload, but you could expect a 10 day time frame from start of drilling to the completion of all these 'post drilling' procedures.

Lab turnaround times also vary (Depending on how many samples, lab workload etc), but they will often get pre-assays done prior to getting the detailed assays so they have some idea of metal values like copper/gold etc. Normally a 2 to 4 week turnaround on all assays.

So from start to finish maybe a month, but depending on drilling conditions, amount of geo's working, lab turnaround times etc you could have results in as little as two to three weeks (Following drilling) if there is a big push for results.

I am unsure of how many geo's they now have at PH, I can only assume that based on the budget there would be a significant number of them working there. Also given that they have 10 rigs for exploration, that maybe would require staff of 20 geo's or so. Again this is only based on my experience at other mine sites.

So it is a process that is dependent on many variables but most importantly is the ground conditions which they are drilling. If ground conditions are poor they will lose holes and gear, costing time and money. Good ground conditions will mean drilling is done quickly and makes post drilling processes easier and quicker to do.

I have some tables of different drilling rates based on different lithologies and ground conditions at work. When I get back I will do up some sort of summary for those who are interested.

Also to be noted is that I believe they have only just commenced drilling on the IMX targets. I wouldn't expect results to be released until a number of drilling programs have been completed.

I noticed there are a few people asking where the drilling results are, I think you may be waiting a while. OZL are a mid-tier miner that doesn't need to release results all the time to please shareholders and will only release results if they have a significant discovery and nothing less.