Of course HC bulls will defer to the MD's sizzle and JV partners persistence to leave no stone unturned, but the faint praise on this release is rightly concerning. Suppose it's up to me to comment on results with a more realistic perspective, again. So out side of the 2m massive sulphide discovery hole 13, original thickness has dropped from 32m to 24m in hole 16 (at <0.2% Cu&Ni), dropped from 27m to 10m in hole 19 (slightly better grade) averaged 0.1% Ni & 0.16% Cu in hole 15, 0.15% Ni & 0.22% Cu in hole 18, and twin hole 14 dropped to 0.18% Ni & 0.5% Cu from 0.5% Ni&Cu in discovery hole 13...
Where is the commentary from DRE or HC admitting that interval thickness and/or grades have come back disappointing compared to expectations (Dean's comments in September drilling release)
Dreadnought’s Managing Director, Dean Tuck, commented: “For the past two years, the work programs at the Money Intrusion have focused on confirming the fertility, high tenor and potential to form sulphide accumulations. This program has been a major leap forward confirming massive and semi-massive sulphides within thick halos of disseminated and net textured sulphides at a marginal trap site within the Money Intrusion. There are two key outcomes from this program. Firstly, that the Money Intrusion can form high tenor massive sulphides and that the search for additional trap sites is imperative. Secondly, given the high tenor of mineralisation, massive sulphides are not required for high-grade mineralisation and geophysical techniques used to date may have missed significant targets.
A slightly different style of Ni-Cu-Co-3PGE sulphide system, CHNs Julimar is the most recent and relevant project comp for anybody chasing "thick halos of disseminated and net textured sulphides"... An early exploration section from Julimar drilling (same scale as Booka below) demonstrates that much thicker and higher grade intersections still end up averaged down with lower grades as happens in MRE of this style of large tonnage target. Metalurgical recoveries of Ni-Cu-Co-3PGE deposits are notoriously poor, and low grades don;t make bank to cover the very high capex/opex of required large tonnage operations (as CHN's scoping study and share price collapse over time demonstrates). Sure, DRE still have to wheel out the IP and hope to find something much better, which is some hope, but frankly today's assays don;t justify the excitement imho...
(20min delay)