Thanks for the great work, as usual.
If current RC holes have found carbonatite mineralisation then the geo's onsite would be somewhat excited but very much in the dark. While carbonatite is visual, actual handheld pXRF would max out at about 3,000ppm Niobium (0.3% Nb) and nobody will be able to successfully distinguish a discovery of grade until the lab results are returned. If Avalon is an Niobium REE discovery then it won't be confirmed for another 4-6 weeks until assays are received.
Carbonatite Niobium REE deposits typically sit on top of the intrusion where weathering has occurred to enrich the mineralisation - the gravity high is not the main Niobium REE mineralisation, but the actual density of the intrusive body.
Conversely, IOCG copper-gold systems are typically found at exact gravity peaks. Current planned RC holes 1-4 appear to only test the weaker upper part of the Avalon gravity anomaly, with RC hole 3 looking the best chance finding mineralisation but does not test the gravity high. Hence, there's one single diamond drill hole (planned DD) to do exactly that, drill for an IOCG discovery.
IOCG copper is very visual, especially in diamond drilling and works well with pXRF without upper limitation. IOCG's are typically pipe like and go kms deep, they may be only 200m in diameter but their vertical extent is where their scale really kicks in.
Right now, the DD hole would likely be 300m (max) into its journey, while maybe having some visual mineralisation it could still be 50-100m away from the discovery where the strongest part of the gravity is (purple below).
It's too early to tell if anyone onsite has any clue if a discovery is being made, and highly unlikely any current trading is from leaked information.
