With regard to drilling efficiency. I spoke to Justin Tremain at TCG who use the same drilling as AUE. In fact, they had several thousand m to be done by AUE to secure major Boundali leases. He said that post that he did a further contract for drilling with Caigen Wangs drilling co.
I asked about the fact that diamond drilling is normally a lot more expensive than RC (Reverse Circulation ) drilling. Miners sometimes use RC to pre-drill before following up with Diamond (Core) drilling to deeper depth in what is called a diamond tail. He said:
not in CI.
the depts being drilled a shallow low overburden
you get a full core and that can be/ is used for metallurgical testing
the diamond drills used there are man-portable.
in hilly country, which they have, preparation of the drill pad is much easier for the small man-portable diamond rigs. ( AUE is in flatter country at Boundialli).
All of the above confirmed by Caigen goes to explain a major Advantage of AUE both in being able to negotiate for leases cost-effectiveness in drilling and the low final cost of mine development/oz.
Some don't care for this kind of detail but it builds the picture. In fact, Caigen said a lot of this to me 8 months but I hadn't yet understood the elements that make these operations so much more efficient than say (West +/-) Australian operations.
All IMVHO PS We have 8 rigs biting into the ground to produce results, "Toute de suite".
AUE Price at posting:
30.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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