Hello all, please hear me out before you decide I am ramping or rambling - because I believe I am not. I will choose my words carefully in order to keep it real.
The confidence is building on Lake Cowan project which I have discussed in great detail before. The other day I stated that I would gain some additional knowledge of the "complexity" that Dean is speaking about and here it is - in addition to a recap on the basics. It is early days however we already know a great deal and it is exciting IMO.
Complexity: The airmag pictures produced late last year show black and white zones in parallel structures on Lake Cowan totaling some 7km in length, up to 1km wide in places. The pattern highlights the de-magnitised zones which highlight where the alteration within the ground rock structure has occurred. Don't let your eyes roll just yet I will explain.
Definition: Alteration From http://geology.about.com/od/glossaryofgeology/g/defalteration.htm Alteration is a mineralogical change at low pressures due to invading fluids or the influence of oxygen. Alteration may happen near the Earth's surface, where it is considered part of chemical weathering under the name supergene alteration.
The deep crustal fault - the Boulder LeFroy fault (is very deep) and acts as the plumbing system for gold laden fluids to rise up into these two complex formations over time. The de-magnitised zones show (alteration) which is where the gold laden fluids have flowed through the brittle dolerite (rock type). The formative geological events crack and shear the brittle rock over time making it an ideal structure to hold the gold. This is the key element known as 'complexity' in Deans dialogue.
The gold has been trapped in the complex fractured dolerite due to the high iron content as proven by the geochem work. This work now also indicates that the right pH and salinity is in place at this address - all fantastic for trapping the gold ready for FML to discover and then potentially to mine.
Multiple enrichment events have not been confirmed as yet HOWEVER the complexity of the structures indicates this is most likely.
When the airmag is overlain with the geochem a fantastic picture emerges as I am explaining (in as simple terms as possible) here in this post. I have taken calls and around 1 hour of collating and writing to provide this education today. The confidence and contained excitement is building substantially here on this project as work continues.
Summary: This is looking more like a repeat of the structures which host the Super Pit and St Ives, based on what we know already. This is highly significant:
BLF fault (extremely active and rich as previously proven along strike), offset geology along strike (dilation jog) - same as Super Pit and St Ives, very thick iron rich environment (ditto), correct rock types (ditto), pH and salinity (ditto), in addition to appropriate scale.
All these factors line up and are VERY similar to these two leading world class deposits to the north along strike.
The presence of tellurides outcropping at surface on TI are also a highly important 'signature indicator' along this fault - of a large rich system. The existence of tellurides does not guarantee a monster deposit just anywhere - however along this fault this would be a first if we missed out.
Depth is virtually assured to extend down to the mantle on this fault. This is because the BLF is a 'deep crustal fault'. We will never see any mining activity down to this sort of depth in our lifetimes and don't need to.
The unknowns are: The grade and shape of the deposit. Does this structure widen at depth or pinch off along strike or on width? How rich are the main shoots and the halo ores? If the systems pinch off not far below surface then we may 'only' have a multi-million ounce potential here (based on scale and current 'knowns'). This is possible, yet enough to get excited based on this 'base case' scenario.
These unknowns can vary this project outcome between 2M oz and 60M ounces - we just don't know yet.
Potential is unknown but it is big: Anywhere between 2 - 4M oz outcropping at near surface under a thin layer of mud 'would' be considered big - and most likely economic judging by the RAB survey now close to complete.
We know from the outcropping on TI and the RAB work that the system is gold charged over a very wide area so we can safely deduce this is a large system - nay a big system. Outcropping on TI suggests the presence of rich shoots already. Average grades along this fault in this rock and geochem environment indicate it is big, potentially VERY big.
Chances are this deposit will be world news (mining) over the coming 12 months to two years. Any deposit that reaches 5 - 10M ounces close to surface as a decent grade would be very big news and highly important to share price for a company the size of FML.
Feet on the ground is ESSENTIAL as this unfolds, but if you want 'in' on the ground floor, and have the correct risk profile, and are prepared to be patient while this plays out - then I suggest that this is a highly attractive investment and that we are sitting at the ground floor right now. All IMO of course.
Regards, CW DYOR&DD
FML Price at posting:
5.1¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
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