Hi @Mantis Shrimp ...."The point I was trying to make, that you...

Hi @Mantis Shrimp ...."The point I was trying to make, that you also eluded to, is that there has only been drilling down to 100m +/- so no-one knows what is under this and there are signs that there could be something substantial in places."

Not sure if you have noticed, but the quantity of mineralisation @salpetie and I came up with, totally independently of each other, was around the same for both Emily and Crean. I don't have a number for Green, just a rough approximation, but it also appears to be much thinner in the high grade material.

I also think we've both been very generous in the thicknesses of the higher grade material, I gave Emily an average of 30M of high grade material. EAL098 was RC drilling (IIRC) and though it went 180M deep it only had 12M of 2.3% Nb2O5 with the rest to depth likely being 'fresh' carbonatite.

I also have the area as being smaller than @salpetie has either, as I know kriging will make the halfway point between 2 holes at no more than the shortest intersection, even if both are similar high grade, so where you have 20M at 2% in one hole and the next 200M away at 2M of 2%, the kriging used for MRE will have the midway point between the 2 holes, at no greater than 2M at 2%. It's just the way it is in resource estimation, it's not assumed the mineralisation grades gently between the 2 holes. You want to be more precise, then drill a hole in the midway point!!

It's the weathered carbonatite that we're all interested in, as that's where the forces of nature in weathering the carbonatite has concentrated the Niobium for us. IMHO this is the only mineralisation that will be mined here at all, as in West Arunta, for the next couple of decades, so most of the time what's deeper down will be of no consequence or value.

Please also note, the fresh carbonatite will require different types of processing to the weathered (oxidised) material, and all the higher grades are in the weathered layer.

AC drilling for the most part has been able to drill through the weathered material, sure a couple of holes where there was high grade at EOH might extend a metre or 2 deeper with weathered material, but it's not going to make a substantial difference to either of our rough calculations. They could also have hit fresh carbonatite which is why they could go no deeper..

In my calculations, I allowed the 12M at 2.3%, and 16M at 2.7% and 20M at 2.7% to average out at 30M at 2%, so my calculations could also be very much on the high side as well!! Plus my actual calculations came to 1,912,500 tonnes, that I rounded up to 2M tonnes.

We'll certainly only get an accurate picture when they RC drill the area at closer spacings, and sure the overall high grade of mineralisation could go up by say a million tonnes at most, but they could also go down if the high grade mineralisation becomes much thinner fairly quickly to the 'flanks'. I think both our calculations are around the middle of what's expected to be the final results, as there are surrounding holes that do cut off extensions along strike and width wise.

Please also note, that we will not be the only people doing these rough calculations, funds with their own inhouse geologists/analysts will also be doing likewise to get a rough idea of what ENR actually has, and the market has come to the conclusion of 'not enough', in existing drilling.