I’ve never quite understood the trend in using RC for first pass...

I’ve never quite understood the trend in using RC for first pass drilling. It’s significantly cheaper and quicker to use AC or RAB. It possibly has something to do with the targeting method here which was a discrete geophysical anomaly, clearly this worked well at Luni.

In regional exploration projects of this scale, particularly where there is Quaternary overburden, initial drilling is usually designed to build stratigraphic knowledge and generate some geochemistry from Tertiary or saprolite horizons. RAB and AC allows you to cover the ground quickly and cost effectively but with lower quality as you mention. Obviously you hope to hit some mineralised zones but this isn’t critical for a successful programme.

The early use of RC at Luni has clearly been beneficial. It probably saved months of time and therefore cost, and every hole is now useful for JORC compliance. RC, as a first pass, may be less beneficial for P2 where a more mobile rig might have been able to drill on a broader scale more quickly and accordingly pin down lithology boundaries. We can make these assessments with the benefit of hindsight.

I guess there are certain industry pressures for access to personnel, equipment and assay feedback. Add here a remoteness factor and it possibly explains rig availability. But this is an unusual situation, usually you do the regional exploration before resource development. For WA1, by good grace of early success, it’s the other way around.