Another of IRD's welcome regular updates today. I think the best...

Another of IRD's welcome regular updates today. I think the best part of the announcement is on page 2, under the GIP heading:

"In a single traverse at Northwest Fingerpost Hill 1 magnetite has been replaced by hematite from surface to a vertical depth of 55m. The total width of this hematite zone is estimated at 180m. Magnetite gneiss extends below the hematite by an additional 20-45m."

The presence of hematite is very encouraging, especially from surface. I'll be keen to see the assays. Even a few such bodies of DSO (or near DSO) quality haematite could mean valuable early cash flow ahead of a magnetite operation, which is another tick in favour of the GIP reaching production.

I'm afraid, in these situations, I'm prone to "bucket" tonnage calculations, so here goes: 180m width (the traverse?) x 55m (depth) is 9900m2, so if the specific gravity of hematite is ~5g/cc then each 10m slice weighs ROUGHLY 0.5 million tonnes. It wouldn't be a stretch to get 10 or more such blocks over the GIP area (in one pit or satellites), ie 5mt. If they can clear a very conservative US$10/t (after operating and cap costs, stripping etc), that's +US$50m in cash flow, over 5 years say (NPV might be half that). Current fully diluted market cap is ~A$100m with all the options.

Early days and risky of course, but good news. It looks like the RC program still has several targets to test, after a rest break; we'll all be watching with interest.