Good to have discussions and exchange of ideas. The comment...

Good to have discussions and exchange of ideas. The comment about recoveries only being moderate stood out when I was putting this together. May need to do extra work to justify using the RC numbers for resource estimates. There is Nb but if it isn't supported by solid data then the foundation may be weak.

As you're aware, although I did categorise carbonatite as a softer host rock, this is only really in comparison to other igneous host rocks in that same family. As a whole though, the igneous rock family is still in the hard category. Now on the point of fresh v weathered, fresh carbonatite is harder than the weathered carbonatite because the rock mineral and structural composition has not been altered by weathering processes. It will get harder and more costly the deeper we go, but we hope that this will be counteracted with greater mineralisation. [Standard enough weathering profile in WA. A reason RAB and AC drilling to refusal makes a good first pass in exploration. As with the comment in the paragraphs below the concept of greater mineralisation at depth is not well supported by the first holes at Luni and P2 in 2022.

There are intervals of grade in what is probably fresh rock (117+ L2, 140+ L3) that are separated by zones below cutoff. Similar variability in the few deeper holes by ENR. Does not mean there will not be high grade zones at depth.]

The figure you point out from May 2023 is a curious one because it shows that well endowed blanket fairly close to surface. This is at odds with the general consensus that fresh carbonatite should contain higher niobium mineralisation than weathered carbonatite because it represents the primary unaltered form of the rock.[Could you please give a reference for this statement? The reverse seem to be more common with grades up to 8% in the weathered profile at Luni and only rare instances of 2%+ at depth. Mt Weld REEs are up to 40+% in the weathered zone but average 1-3% ( deep hole assays) and also show variation with different zones of carbonatite - limited data available so needs more research for armchair geos The dolomitic Carb.in the block model below underlies the higher REE zone. Fortuitous - perhaps. Supergene Au, Cu and Lateritic Nickel can show the concentration effect in the weathered zone as well. Bauxite? What is the profile of grade like at Araxa? Will take a look later.]

Chemical alteration of the carbonatite occurs due to exposure to water and atmospheric gases. If the minerals leech and and redistribute, this is where we will see lower mineralisation (perhaps what our neighbours are seeing with their lower grades - I haven't paid much attention to their geology). I would be curious to find any mapping of water tables for the region,[Most underground water I have seen in WA mining areas is in the zones above fresh rock. Water bores by ENR appear to be trying to tap this source (Hoschke 2 holes and Caird 1). The mess around 2022 hole L3 suggests there is a lot of water there (shows up on Sentinel as a white smear still visible 18 months later - interpretive may be wrong) Unless there are lots of fractures the fresh rock seldom has significant water. Locally from faults but rare.]. as it may give us a clue as to whether we will continue seeing fresh carbonatite below a certain depth, or potential for breaks in mineralisation due to alteration, we don't want the latter. I suspect this will be hard information to come by, if it exists at all, given how little exploration has occurred in the region. Further drilling and the met studies will likely elucidate most of the above.

Regarding climate of the Gibson Desert. The Pleistocene period (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago) saw many changes in climate in the Gibson desert and that would have affected the availability of water in the region. Ancient river channels, lake bed sediments, and fossilized remains of aquatic organisms have been found in the Gibson desert, so it isn't a stretch to assume that at some point Arunta was similar to Araxa. Of course, these geological processes take thousands and millions of years as we can see above. The potential for weathered rock can exist below fresh rock in certain geological settings where deep weathering profiles emerge. If we go back to the Paleozoic and Mesozoic periods (541 million to 66 million years ago), when Australia was part of the super continent Gondwana, long periods of aridity followed by humidity emerged. We don't have specific data on this, but due to science we know that climate is not static. This could lead to that layered weathering/fresh rock I mention above. We do know however that the Pleistocene era had repeat glaciation (drier temperatures in the Gibson) followed by inter-glacial periods (where humidity was predominant).[Pleistocene glaciation in Australia was probably restricted to minor areas in SE Australia but the climate would have gone through the cycles you describe. The Permian glaciation (250 MYa) impacted the Canning basin to the west of West Arunta and perhaps around Lake Mackay. There may be a lot more information available if one looks and can get access (lots of sources require payment up front for info which may not be of much use) Much of the WA shield and probably areas like West Arunta have been relatively stable in the last 541 My. The Canning and Officer basin formed in that time frame with some marginal impacts probable and as the source of some of the sediments into said basins. Thousands of meters for the Canning basin in places had to come from somewhere.] Again, the varying temperatures there led to fluctuations in wetlands and water access. Given that central Australia still does have some lakes, It isn't hard to accept that with lower temperatures and or more humidity, that the landscape of the desert has changed at some point in the last 541 million years, and along with it the geological processes at play.

The LYC announcement gives more credence to what we may see here. It can become a dogs breakfast though because several theories about the mineralisation profile can run side by side until we really do further drilling and met studies to understand the geological constraints, viability etc. One has to logically follow the other. Without good recovery,[From JORC appendix in announcement: Sample recoveries are visually estimated for each metre with pooror wet samples recorded in the sample table.▪ For RC drilling, the sample cyclone was routinely cleaned at theend of each 6m rod.▪ No relationship has been determined between sample recoveryand the mineralisation returned.▪ Samples were moist for the majority of the intersections andrecovery was moderate through the significant intervals reported.▪ Diamond core recovery was good through the mineralised zoneand the hole was triple tubed from surface to preserve the coreintegrity. The RC recovery doesn't seem great from this statement. Adequate? Triple tube H/PQ Diamond or sonic drilling would probably improve recovery but at a much higher cost. Twinning selected RC hoses with DD/Sonic to see what variability exist could be a first step. Back to why proceed to deeper drilling? IMO this is NOT a high priority and may never be.] we don't proceed to deeper drilling, and without the deeper drilling, we don't get to understand the nature of the mineralisation in the Luni deeps. We still understand so little about the area and this is what makes this exciting