With you smulv; many years ago I took a 'gap year' and worked as a shit kicker for a large, at that time, exploration/mining operation. We weren't looking for gold, more on that below, and from memory the Managing Geo' had a 6 monthly plan, 3 monthly plans and then weekly. The team was pretty functional but changes to the 'monthly' as we called it, was fairly constant. We weren't drilling, but collecting soil and chip samples along traverse lines. Lab turnaround times 6 to 8 weeks. The lab was looking for 10,000+ per million.
From what I have been hearing gold assays are taking 10 to 16 weeks at the moment. I assume there is some que jumping for +$s; such is life.
Goldies are looking for 1+ grams per tonne (one part per million), much of it from drilling. Drillers have their own schedules and plants issues. Then if a gold sample comes back from the lab with an anomalous grams per tonne, long plans change to accommodate closer spacing, or to confirm no one dropped their wedding ring down a hole - joke.
What I am saying is exploration is Nothing like organising Xmas Dinner, or driving an Uber. Plans are long and plans often Have to change. Changes = delays, frequently days, often weeks.
Then there are issues which result in unavoidable lab delays, illness, COVID, perhaps.
Then there are field delays - I spent three days stuck in mud after the tail end of a cyclone came through, It happens in the Eastern Goldfieds and many if not all non-major roads are graded. Good 95% of the time but rain can result in more bog points. One we had to deal with was over 500metres long. The way around and additional 130 kms.
Don't get me wrong I had a great year and got a very lesson on delays in life.
To those complaining, cut some slack, or go and try a real job
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