Off the cuff summary
- Reasonable size and continuity for Stinger.
- Initial surface projected area for Stinger ~~~550,000 sqm at say 40m vertical 1%+-grade and 1.7 SG ~~40 mt.
- Bulk grades between 0.7 to low 1% Nb2O5.
- Local minor zones to 2% (4m @2% maximum I noted)
- Top of zone 50m
- Best grades closer to 100m or 70-90m vertical
- Hole 201 ended in "mineralisation". Confirmation of possible Nbx enriched dyke.
- Early days.
Thoughts
Stinger alone is not equivalent to Luni in grade or size but in a better location so swings and round abouts for relative economics if the bulk volume grade numbers hold up.
Back of envelope calculations Stinger c40Mt at 1% Nbx, Multiple zones for ENR at mostly 2% plus ~15Mt. Treat this line with caution and DYOR.
Luni 200 mt of 1% including 50 @ 2%. Residual for 150 mt at approx 0.7%. The high grade zone pays for the mine at Luni with the bulk as long term gravy (more drilling to come for Luni as well so figures will change as the will for ENR and DRE and...?)
Some grade smearing with assays. A small selection.
| HOLE ID | intersections | metres | Nbx | mpct |
| HOLE ID | intersections | metres | percent | mpct |
|---|
| 1 | 195 | main | 130 | 0.7 | 91 |
| 195 | main | 39 | 1.3 | 50.7 |
|---|
| 2 | FR-TO | incl 1 | 39 | 1.3 | 50.7 |
| FR-TO | incl 1 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
|---|
| 3 | 71-201 |
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| 84-123 | incl 2 |
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| 0 |
|---|
| 4 |
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| 0 |
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| incl 3 |
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| 0 |
|---|
| 5 |
| Residual | 91 | 0.4 | 40.3 |
|
| Residual | 35 | 1.2 | 42.7 |
|---|
| 6 |
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| 7 |
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| 8 | HOLE ID | intersections | metres | g/t au | mpct |
| HOLE ID | intersections | metres | percent | mpct |
|---|
| 9 | 200 | main | 95 | 0.9 | 85.5 |
| 193 | main | 57 | 0.9 | 51.3 |
|---|
| 10 | FR-TO | incl | 20 | 1.4 | 28 |
| FR-TO | incl 1 | 10 | 1.2 | 12 |
|---|
| 11 | 48-143 |
| 8 | 1.7 | 13.6 |
| 51-108 |
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| 12 |
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| 0 |
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| 13 |
| Residual | 67 | 0.7 | 43.9 |
|
| Residual | 47 | 0.8 | 39.3 |
|---|
Hole 195 does include more marginal grade (mathematically) in the 130m "main" intersection.
The high grade section in 195 shows the possible location of a higher grade blanket ~~70-100m vertically.
Having seen the large number of +2% Nbx grades over large intervals at Luni and ENR the headline for the DRE announcement is only meaningful, IMO, relative to the Gifford Creek carbonatite (GCC).
The GCC was initially a TREO + hints of others play that paled relative to Mt Weld on a TREO basis. Now 'rebranded' as Nb as the flavour of the market has changed.
I suspect many such Nb plays will come from exploration as this change of emphasis proceeds. The Nb market has historically been relatively small hence it is difficult to see many new players getting a foothold unless their deposits have special economics.
Impact on ENR of DRE's announcement? Minimal IMO. ENR's Nbx future, at current levels, IMO is tied to WA1 and Luni with recent comments by WA1 posters that ENR needs WA1 and not the reverse quite likely IMO.
With Nb it would make little sense for two stand alone mines in the west Arunta. For gold it would be different but still a costly duplication of economics IMO.
GEOLOGISTS ROLES TNM.pdfThe above is an exploration geos view, it will differ from a resource geos view although I do insert some caveats along the way. What these results mean depends on what part of the elephant you are familiar with. Not many see the whole.
(20min delay)