Some extra comments about when assay results can be expected.
The process from dust to your table (hopefully a tasty announcement) is fairly standard.
Collect samples in the field - doesn't really matter what type of sample - drilling, geochem are the most common bulk ones.
If some of these "look" good then a small selection can be rushed to the Lab (by air at times?) and priority requested (costs more and not a great practice to do regularly as there are other customers who might feel hard done by). Can be a double edged sword as the priority samples for Green demonstrated.
"Run of the mill" samples are batched and sent off site by truck as the weight is often in the tonnes. Diamond Drilling core requires extra processing so add a minimum of 1 week for that and probably longer.
Shipment phase is known to the company and factored in. From Aileron expect a good run to take less than a week at the longest. Add on rain and unexpected issues still probably a maximum of 1 week.
Samples arrive at the lab who can tell the company their turnaround time will be X+- weeks. More prioritised samples slipped into the system? The unexpected - super high grades (yes please but need alternate assay methods), break downs, covid or...
Results sent to company who will run QAQC - checking to see if results are consistent with all checks.
QAQC OK then need to process data, prepare and check an announcement for release. Weekend? This information generally has to be released to the market as part of disclosure rules. I don't know these and there is some flexibility depending on market sensitivity. Good or bad results from Rio have less impact than for minnows like ENR. Est Max of 5 working days for processing reasonable quantities of data
Total from when samples leave site to an announcement: Lab time + a "normal" 2 weeks (?maximum) for shipping and data processing.
The big unknown is the Lab time which can't be influenced by the company. The others can be streamlined by company practices within reason.
===================== Recent aircore drilling has probably seen a lot of potential "duster" holes into non carbonatite lithologies. Logging and PXRF can potentially spot zones of interest in what might otherwise be boring hosts. Selecting assays for these zones would be useful. Otherwise the options are:
take no samples - unlikely but an option.
take only EOH samples - relatively common for some projects. Generally closest to fresh rock and can give useful lithogeochemistry.
Composite part or the entire hole. 2-4m composites are common and can pick up surprises with follow up 1m assays of selected zones.
With experience/feedback for an area selective sampling based on transported cover, leached zones, Permian cover etc can be used to minimise the relatively high assay costs if too many samples are taken. Need to get the good zones but minimise the less prospective....
The above is a quick overview of what were standard practices back in the day. (No PXRF of course, or GPS). Please feel free to add some comments, corrections. DYOR
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