Attended the AGM yesterday and confirmed many of the speculations posted over the last few months and much more.
Drilling has finished for this season with a real sound and light show delaying departure from site. Sounded like the thunder and lightning were spectacular and served as a warning that being 200 Kms from beyond the black stump is not a great place to be with existing access. Had a similar story from folks at the Wingellina prospect where the summer heat and storms make field work a potential logistical nightmare best avoided.
So much covered not easy to do justice or make a coherent flow. Shotgun approach with little order; much from memory with only limited notes and distinctly my paraphrasing from those memories. DYOR as well. Many thanks to WR, JH and site geos Mark and Sarah (a keen photographer who should be credited for some of the photos in the AGM preso.)
============= Formal meeting was a model of the overall ENR approach. Pertinent, well organised, short and to point. As is usual the resolutions sailed through with only one minor Q from yours truly about the exercise price of incentive options - hadn't read the material. Vwap for the last 5 days to meeting + 50% so 55-60c. Good vibes about the transition of Chairman. Orderly succession. Have a good time Paul.
================= Will Robinson (WR) gave a presentation using the material in the announcement. Aileron for starters with others perhaps later this weekend though little was said about them.
====================
Q - West Arunta is very remote how was it seen as a target and what would be needed? Not the wording used but the overall sentiment. Below is not strictly the answer but a combination of why and what that justifies the decision to explore. Helps that they may have stumbled on one of the worlds most well endowed carbonatite areas.
Thanks to NCM for coming to the party and helping them get the first hole begun into Hoschke where black box (magnetics) and regional gravity gave an interesting target. IOCG were the main target with regional structures a consideration for location. The carbonatites were not unexpected as there are kimberlites to the south and there is commonly an association of these with carbonatites (and lamprophyres) which require the deep seated architecture provided by structures such as the CAS and other local major faults (Elephant Island for example). From a paper by Joly 2013 Structure and magnetic units.
Schematic locations for carbonatites drilled ---- so far...... "Elephant" size deposits are needed for such remote areas hence the design of one of the largest Falcon surveys outside of a major. Need to intersect a target on at least two lines so a 300m line spacing was considered appropriate at this stage. [They DID fly over the Luni deposit but data are being kept in house and a definite no comment from WR on the relation to Green. They told WA1 the flights would happen which is reasonable and, as I suspected, almost necessary from a flight logistical perspective]
Drilling results will be assessed over the summer and feed back into the major structural targeting model.
======================== Logistics. Much shared with WA1 - flights, site clearing equipment, core boxes, road construction etc. A good logistical arrangement with a little less on the Geology side. A couple of months back a poster mentioned the need for sheeting roads to make them effective for high traffic volumes. This has happened and the 200 Kms from Kiwi. is now accessible for road trains (triples!). WA1's large front end loader was used to clear sites and access though juggling WA1's needs limited what was available. Hence more sites and access were prepared than could be drilled or used this season. The country is sparsely vegetated and much is 'subcrop' so rapid progress was made with the access to Wordie and Shackleton being prime examples. Having a track to Wordie means EIS diamond drilling, planned for next year, can be done early. [If Wordie turns out to be the carbonatite that geophysicists suspect then a diamond hole will be proof of concept that will require further drilling along the lines of the zonation of Lynas' Mt Weld; or Phalabora in South Africa -- please be so.] Mark and Sarah flew over the Wordie Perce area in a chopper and observed the sand dunes and a possible transition to more sandy overall terrain. This will make drilling these geophysical targets more challenging.
========================= Geology and new tenements Roy Woodall was quoted as saying pick up as much land as you can early. The applications to the North of Hoschke fit into this category with the recognition that the neo Proterozoic age may make them too young to be intruded by carbonatites. At this stage the age dating of the carbonatites has not been done with only the Olympic Dam age for samples from EAL001 being available. The GSWA and academia are very active now with materials and future logistics enabling them to get material as well as boots on ground using ENR/WA1 camps rather than chopper supported reconnaissance. [The previous GSWA mapping was limited by access and is now known to be lacking]
Tenements to the east in the NT will be explored in due course.
Diamond drilling at the early stage helped targetting by providing oriented core that gave hints of dips that don't readily come from RC. Shows up in the sites where the rig was spun around from the original south azimuth to a northerly one with the intersections of carbonatite resulting. Apparently the carbonatites had WA1 geos scratching their heads at the start. 50%+ carbonate is the guideline but the range of textures and colours shown in core samples on display would make RC chips a diabolical challenge for the newbie geo (newbie to carbonatite anyway which would be the case for most more seasoned geos). Pyrochlore (Nb mineral) is visible in drill core though requires training to spot with any reliability.
PXRF is used but is hit and miss. More qualitative showing Nb is present but that is about it. Hence not announced.
Perce - a surprise which will require drilling to determine what it is. No magnetic signature, as such, but with a very strong gravity feature that suggests hematite alteration as one of the best reasons.
Green Fingers crossed that the arcuate structures reflect carbonatite(s) on trend from Luni.
Emily Tossed in a few lines to test the magnetic low on "spec". Got lucky. Logic, as for Luni, the weathering is deeper and hence magnetic minerals are removed creating a mag low. .
No comment about level of success other than quiet optimism. Not announced no leaky ship? Assays over the next few months..
Targeting is not really being helped by geophysics. Carbonatites: with combined mag/gravity, without mag, without gravity, neither. Part of the post season digestion of data collected that will feedback into the 2024 program.
============ Funded, with EIS, for the 2024 season. No hint of interest by other parties though not asked and would not be replied to at such a meeting
--------------- Fingers crossed assays are good/adequate with this seasons work somewhat like WA1's 2022 drilling that found carbonatite at similar levels Nb/REE that showed rapid variations away from the initial holes to, locally, very high grade Nb.
Again thanks to the team for time and candor.
ENR Price at posting:
39.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)
