Delays in assay Lab analysis is beyond our control. With a boom in Battery minerals, 10X increase in price for Spodumene recently, every company with any permits with outcropping Pegmatite would have sent many samples in hoping to strike it lucky. Also don't forget the other exploration for other battery minerals, magnesium. copper, nickel and rare earths along with the usual Gold Exploration
Maybe some smart entrepreneur should look at building a few more assay labs in WA or expand existing operations- many companies would be happy to pay a premium for a quicker turnaround times. I would think it would be a lucrative business.
Yet still with all the activity here in WA , there are only a handful of JORC compliant Spodumene resources in Tier 1 locations. ESS are one of them and even less resources that will be mined from surface! (after assays and metallurgy confirm) As stated by Management “The MRE extension drill programme, together with assays from the drilling completed earlier this year and the upcoming metallurgical test work programmes, have the potential to rapidly transform Essential from lithium explorer to developer.”
What do you think the market cap of ESS when we are truly classified as a developer ? ......and then Miner? Exciting times indeed!
Its a decade long commodities super cycle here folks and I'm excited and thankful I'm invested in it as IMO Australian Spodumene is somewhere safe for investments knowing we have it. Macro markets, inflationary @ recession fears also wont make a dent for demand in this sector.
For the upcoming Assays - Geologically, the Metallurgy (mineralogy) and grades that have already been confirmed down dip won't change in this upper 40 m zone from what we see in the rest of this pegmatite zone. The only unknown was the weathering and this has already been confirmed visually by the Geos on the rig.
These near surface DD cores - adds to the already 4 RC holes (from previous drilling) that contained Fresh spod from Surface
Its Fresh and ESS will be mining it from Surface!!
For the current down dip drilling RC/Diamond drilling - Same again I don't expect the mineralogy and grades to change - the unknown is the intersection, anywhere 10- 20m would be stella results.
Good luck all and stay patient, as your investment returns on ESS will be directly proportional to the amount of time you stay invested! Hold em tight!
ESS Price at posting:
55.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held