Ann: Greater Fosterville Exploration Update, page-12

Yep I also think its great fun…tbh I don’t think I would bother if it wasn’t, at least not in the exploration space.

“Till i see results and gold/something of importance.This runs on shareholder HOPIUM. Alone. Its promises of something great, but whats to show that its worth more than it is now? Nothing.”

Fair enough, there are obviously a multitude of ways to evaluate the situation, and everyone has their own perspective, strategies, and timelines. I’m not here to argue against any of that and its always interesting to hear another viewpoint. Generally speaking, I don’t disagree with your statement on shareholder hopium… but exactly as Poodle points out its far from a one trick pony.

Personally, I think there is plenty to show for the work so far, it just depends on what you are looking for and in what context you view it. In my opinion the importance or relevance and therefore the value of the results isn’t so much in terms of immediate sp multiples (as nice as that would be), but how those results fit the company’s strategy and how the results might add/detract to the potential for a significant discovery, which would then be the catalyst for sp multiples. Take the latest announcement for example, the sp didn’t do much in response…fair enough I don’t think anyone really expected it to on those results. But in any case, I classify those results as ‘something of importance’ and very relevant as additional weights of evidence that go beyond hopium, it is further proof of concept and shows the methodology is sound.
At Swan/Eagle zones they (Agnico) now understand mineralisation is best developed in certain linking fault structures where bedding is discordant across faults between fold sets. But its important to keep in mind that the overall understanding took several years to get to, it didn't happen overnight.
This is their cross-section from 2003, when they were focused on drilling the syncline in the upper parts of Fosterville with quite patchy, isolated intersections….not that dissimilar to what S2 put out recently tbh, at least just in terms of wide-spaced holes that are difficult to guess what might be down-plunge along strike etc.

It wasn’t until 2015 onwards when they recognised the potential for mineralisation in the linking faults from the main syncline across into the adjacent anticline that things really took off, with the discovery of Swan etc:

Also, the mention of:
“several zones of high grade gold mineralisation associated with quartz veining, sulphide (arsenopyrite and stibnite) alteration, and intrusive dykes.”
Again this is relevant because of the potential analogy with mineralisation from Fosterville, the presence of arsenopyrite and antimony minerals like stibnite are positively correlated with gold at Fosterville and particularly in the Swan/Phoenix zones etc. So to be observing this style of alteration in wide spaced holes along the fold structure is encouraging.

So, that was a long winded way of saying S2's results from these initial holes while not moving the sp dial have still significantly added to the picture in a positive way (obviously doesn't mean we end up with a Swan).

“The share price has done nothing over the past 6 years...”
Fair enough, that’s one take on the situation…I have a different take on it. To me, the fact that S2 has been able to achieve what is has since listing ~9 years ago with a current sp that today sits within spitting distance of the original listing price of 0.19, particularly in the current market, is quite remarkable. Even more so when you consider the current SoI position at 451.8M is effectively only double that of the original SoI from listing back in 2015!
Now some might argue ‘what’s been achieved’ other than burning cash for 9 years, and I’d say yes that’s exactly what they’ve done…it has been (more importantly continues to be) one roll of the dice after another, putting the company in the best position to try and strike it big which is exactly the strategy that was communicated from day dot...all while never letting it get to a point of having to put it all on black and shut up shop.

Really if you think back the number of projects are prospects/targets that have been drilled from day 1 with Polar Bear, Sweden VMS targets, Carlin style gold in Nevada, orogenic gold in Finland and now Victoria, nickel in the Murchison and now Koonenberry, and now the new Cu-Au porphyry target….
What I’d like to know is what other small pure exploration companies are there that have tested as many targets in comparable quality districts over a sustained ~10 year period and have managed to do so keeping their share registry largely in check.
There are many aspects of exploration where the luck component comes into it, but keeping the ship afloat and in good condition isn't necessarily one of them...its having an MD and BoD that have done it before (obviously luck on the exploration front makes it easier)!
In a nutshell its this slide:

But its that slide and the knowledge that its being enacted, think sale of Baloo resource, getting out of projects (Nevada etc) once the initial targets had been drilled, JV's on non-core ground in Finland, selling Fraser Range and West Murchison to Pacific State etc. all of which has landed more rolls of the dice elsewhere.

Here is a list of the top resource stock winners as measured 6 months post discovery:

Sirius still tops that list with Nova ….the discovery of which happened during another low point in the market and at a time when the nickel price was trading significantly off the highs of the previous years.
Now clearly a big part of the value increase was that Nova is a fantastic ore-body and people were quick to recognise it as such…. But the other names on that list are also fantastic deposits in their own right, so its more than just the deposit specifics in isolation, its also the timing, the market conditions AND the condition of the company at the time of the discovery.
Sirius managed to get to that discovery point with 178.8m SOI just a few years after the starting gun was fired with 82m SOI. Keeping in mind it was born from the Croesus mining and then underwent a consolidation, so essentially the new co started life with 82m SOI.
For anyone that remembers the early SIR days you might recall this from back in 2009



Anyway can S2 strike it rich like the SIR days, who knows...my point is they are giving it a red hot go, and have done for some time now.