It would have been premature (*even* by MAN's standards) to go...

It would have been premature (*even* by MAN's standards) to go so far as to plan a drill program when they say, in their Ann of 17 Feb:

Next Steps

................. Mandrake will commence land access discussions with a view to a site visit to characterise rock types and conduct initial mapping .Ground EM would then be used to establish drill targets.

In other words, while all the EM was being arranged, conducted and evaluated they couldn't even work out that it may save time and be generally an opportune time to have a word with Farmer Joe about access to the property! As useful as an udder on a bull! As soon as I read that I spewed and sold the damned lot. Possibly I may regret that in the future but at the pace this lot move the future is well off into the distance.