thanks for the dorothy dixer mrmysterious i think you know the...

thanks for the dorothy dixer mrmysterious i think you know the answer...this explanation is directed more to others

they probably haven't drilled due to administrative "issues"... the two final requirements before drilling can proceed are approved programs of work (pow's) and native title clearance.

most companies are quick of the mark with native title access agreements in place, (which doesnt cost them anything up front), but before they can disturb the ground they need to have native title holders complete heritage surveys to protect their heritage sites ..this can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and if tmb have a strained relationship with native title holders things can get protracted and difficult.

they cant drill at cheela.

at cheela they have held the tenement (as baracus pty ltd) for more than 4 years...they say they have pow's in place but have been talking about heritage surveys not being complete for almost the life of the tenements... you can read between the lines that they are having communication difficulties with native title holders, and you can probably extend those difficulties to other tenements and multiple native title claimants, indicating that the problem is not with the native title claimants but with baracus.

as far as i know they cant drill on any of their lease...and even if thry could they have no viable targets.
anyone please tell me where you think tmb has a target and i will shoot you down.

the only tenement which they have drilled is the baracus held tambourah leases...baracus has held these for more than 8 years as prospecting licences and is now converting to mining leases as is the requirment of the mining act,.. although the prospecting licences will continue in force until such time as the mining lease is approved. baracus had permission to drill, and did drill on the existing prospecting licence, and that permission continues on the lease until the new mining lease is approved without the need to negotiate a new heritage agreement and surveys. lol, tambourah (the prospect) is stone cold dead yet they will still pretend their namesake tenement is worth more drilling...what a joke, it's only a worthwhile target because it's the only one they can drill, it would be absolute stupidity to put another hole in here. (see my assessment of the 50 odd years of previous work on this dog, read all the reports).

as long as the granting of the mining lease can be stalled. (in process now for about a year and 9 months) they can still drill at tambourah but not necessarily on new lithium prospects, depending on the wording of the agreements..

if drilling access is physically easy and agreements are easy, most companies would prefer to drill, otherwise they will do remote sensing and aerial surveys as a substitute to real on ground prospecting and pretend that it's a more rational approach than ground surveys.

why do companies do roadside soil surveys?because they wont have native title or farm access agreements
.
why did sqm pay upfront for tmb's previous aerial survey work? because they would have had to do exactley the same work themselves, but unlike tmb you can bet that they will have access agreements and pow's in place in a fraction of the time (in tmb's case that time is never)..

myself, in negotiations with native title holders on my ground, have been permitted to drill on an existing cleared grid line prior to heritage surveys taking place, on the understanding that if the results are favourable then a public company with more money will be tempted in and we will all benefit... this is the sort of negotiation that goes on in the background when people say "heritage agreements are in progress". on this tenement i could have drilled a month after the tenement was granted and will be drilling on my newer and younger ground before tmb gets their fingers out,

this companies administration is a joke, they use money thrown at remote sensing contractors as a substitute for getting things done to progress drilling targets on the ground...they had 8 million in the kitty more than they wanted more than enough to pay for heritage surveys, now they are down to a few million