Hi Thunder, All fair and valid points. My comment that the drill...

Hi Thunder,

All fair and valid points. My comment that the drill photos look like they could be in line with surface results implies the average grades seen in surface sampling and not the maximum/highest grades reported. I certainly do not think the mantos intercepted in hole four will have cumulative downhole result of 18m @ 30% Pb + 30% Zn + 200g/t Ag and would caution anyone investing in ICG to expect such a result as it’s extremely unlikely. Rather I would expect to see results closer to 9% Pb + 9% Zn + 150g/t Ag which is roughly the average manto grade in rock chips. I’m sure the assays will be highly variable especially in the weathered zone so hole by hole we will see wide deviation from the grade above.

While I appreciate and acknowledge there is a difference in appearance between the rock chip photos and the drill photos I’m happy enough with them to see that the mineralised structures continue at depth. It is always far easier to photograph high grade rock chips compared with drill core, especially in weathered zones. Being able to zoom in on coarse grained galena crystals 1-2cm across or cavity lined smithonite is much easier than displaying a 12m downhole intersection of material. There is always risk the assay results will return disappointing numbers but that is where we make individual investment decisions getting in before or after results are released. I’m happy to be in before but that is just my opinion, of course.

There will obviously be barren material between the individual mantos that will have a large dilutionary effect on grade if the manto sequence were to be bulk mined rather than selectively mined. Assuming the mantos have a combined, mineralised true width of about 7m within ~20m from surface and that only the mantos are mineralised at the average grade above, that the limestone is 100% barren, and discounting the occurrence of high grade veins, then I’d expect 6% Pb+Zn + 50g/t Ag to be a representative, minimum grade target for the top 20m zone of Humaspunco Hill (assumes 30% mineralised and 60% barren; note that 6% is Pb and Zn combined). If the mantos do occur as thought across the hill then that indicates a large resource with a low average grade. However, I think the average grade for this zone will actually be shown to be higher than this minimum estimate in the long term given the known high grade veins, likely low grade mineralisation in some of the interbedded limestone, and potential for additional blind structures to be discovered by drilling in the near surface, but it is the target I base my investment on.

There are always assumptions made in the early days of programs and I know you fully understand this. I am investing in ICG on the idea that the mantos could represent a large resource at surface that de-risks Riqueza significantly. What occurs beneath the manto sequence is still a big unknown – it could be shown to be an extremely exciting target or it could be sub-economic. Either way, a shallow manto resource is a strong fall back to have.

Cheers,
Bornite