Cohiba got quite a hammering after the drilling results were announced because many said it did not line up with the hype when the initial drill core pictures were shown. I don't really subscribe to that sentiment - hitting any mineralisation in the Gawler Craton is significant but at further examination the fundamentals around HWDD04 are actually quite good.
950 – 978m 950 – 978m 28m @ 0.13% Cu, 0.26 g/t Au & 2.18 g/t Ag including 0.9m @1.85% Cu, 0.15 g/tAu & 9.2 g/t Ag from 974m
1,033 – 1,034.3m 0.8m @ 12.15% Cu, 2.62 g/t Au,42.5 g/t Ag, 293ppm Bi & 567ppm Sb
1,072 – 1079m 9m @ 0.11% Cu
1,089.8 – 1,090.2m 0.4m @ 0.97% Cu, 0.28 g/t Au &3.2 g/t Ag
1,113 – 1,117m 4m @ 0.11% Cu
1,225.5 – 1226m 0.5m @ 2.58% Cu, 0.15 g/t Au& 1.94 g/t Ag
1,232.8 – 1,233.3m 0.8m @ 1.52% Cu & 1.24 g/t Ag
1,258 – 1,269m 11m @ 0.20% Cu & 2.01 g/t Ag including 1m @ 0.58% Cu & 9.31 g/t Ag from1,268m
1,306 – 1,320m 14m @ 0.14% Cu & 2.18 g/t Ag including1m @ 0.50% Cu & 10.6 g/t Ag from 1,311m
1,326 – 1,326.3m 0.3m @ 1.33% Cu
1,414 – 1,423.6m 9.6m @ 0.11% Cu
There is a persistence of low level mineralisation with some very good intersections over a significant stratigraphic distance (depth) and the question must be asked - where does 12+% Cu come from? And the attendant 2.62 g/t Au even over a small intersection is actually quite high grade in an IOCG deposit. No-one mentioned it but it is not an insignificant occurrence.
I think the pursuit of mineralogical, petrological and alteration studies coupled to developing an understanding of the stratigraphic sequence is of paramount importance to determining the vectors to major mineralisation in this area.
From their latest announcement Coda outlined about 36 metres of Cu mineralisation over a total length of around 50 metres but nothing outside of those numbers in terms of pervasive low-level copper. Cohiba showed around 70 metres of variable mineralisation but over a much longer stratigraphic interval (close to 500m). It would appear as though the HWDD04 drill hole could be on the distal part of a mineralised system and I for one am happier about chasing a much longer stratigraphic succession than a more concentrated occurrence.
Cohiba got crucified in the market post-announcement but to my low-level technical mind there is significant merit in this play.
