Olympic Dam 2.0 - BHP has hit commercial copper in every hole., page-125

EL6183 has just been renewed for 12 months to 21/10/2020 with a requirement to spend double the previous commitment.

‘A proposed scheme of exploration with a statement of the proposed expenditure no less than double the prevailing rate of commitment for the previous EL.’

I’m assuming the previous spend on EL6183 was at least 300-400k because 500k was spent across all tenements by CHK to achieve the current working interest (30%). Horse Well gravity surveys would have been a big chunk of this.

So $600k may be the minimum spend required by the lease extension which equates to approx 2 holes. This should secure all CHK EAs as part of an Amalgamated Expenditure Agreement (AEA)

Time for asseys to return is about 4 months (based on BHPs announcements on the last 2 drills) this means CHK needs to have completed drilling at least 2 holes prior to June next year (which means starting drilling April/May) to meet their licence requirements on EL6183 and have enough info to decide if they want to move to 80%

JV rules are also strict which is why I believe CHK will drill and go it alone unless an JV with a much bigger commitment than 2 holes with fantastic downstream options is made

http://www.energymining.sa.gov.au/minerals/exploration/exploration_licensing

‘An interest may be earned by another party through the performance of work of a value agreed to by the licensee, provided that no cash or share transfer consideration is involved exceeding the value of work actually performed on an area by the licensee.’

So the lack of communication from the company at the moment has to come down to waiting on a mining permit or JV negotiations or both imo.

However this will have to be resolved soon as one way or another CHK will need to organise a drill for Q1 next year IMO - even if they have to go it alone.

Horse Well shares major similarities with Oak Dam West and round 3 of BHP results should also arrive around June which should hopefully be when CHK are getting their own asseys processed.