Questions about drilling, page-6

If they have the logistical support it makes sense to hit it hard and fast. Especially given the outlook for the cyclone season this year. The Pindan sand around Strelley drains fast and there is usually a hardpan layer that light vehicles can at least drive on even when the place is underwater, but any rain event over 150mm will stop things for a couple of weeks.

Crews would be stood down at Blue Alert and evacuated well before yellow alert - that’s three or four days of stopped work before the cyclone even crosses the coast, then followed by a couple of days of horizontal rain, two to three weeks to drain and whatever time it takes for the crews to remobilise to site.

It will be critical for the field team to get their sampling done promptly. These days the samples are dumped on the ground. In the old days they went into plastic bags that could be removed from site into a secure bag farm. If they don’t get all of the split and resplit sampling done immediately (1m splits done at the rig), the piles will be washed away under a metre of water when the cyclone comes.

one air core rig on single shift should be able to punch out 300-400m per day depending on how far the geo decides to hammer into bedrock. the budgeted 8500m program could be finished in 20-30 days. They will be running the gauntlet but they may just beat the early wet season and get it all finished if they can start drilling this week.