I may be starting to sound like a broken record; however this...

I may be starting to sound like a broken record; however this week could be one of the more interesting ones for MAT shareholders.

All indications seem to be leading to the irrefutable conclusion that MAT will start moving dirt before the end of financial year - as mooted by PP in ASX reports; on time and on budget. So we will soon be joining the ranks of ASX gold producers without any of the teething problems, debt or equity dilution associated with a typical production scenario.

That is our worst case scenario and firmly underpins a market cap higher than our current cap, IMHO.

We then have the blue sky – DD and AC drill results from BE1 and BE3 respectively.

DD, according to ASX reports, began on 17 May. I don’t know what the lab has been doing, but first results must be due any minute.

That there was visible gold in the first DD hole was a great sign. I am no geo, however this indicates to me that there is gold at BE1 and plenty of it. However, given that no further visible gold was found in holes that must’ve been completed, logged and sent for assay means that MAT shareholders shouldn’t set our hopes too high. Defining an ore body is no easy task and the luck of encountering visible gold in the first hole was just that – luck; a hole a few centimeters either side of the visible gold and we would’ve missed it. It will be the gold that isn’t visible to the naked eye that will determine how rich BE1 actually is.

I guess what I’m trying to get at here is that MAT is a low risk, potentially high return play irrespective of first drill results. I don’t expect ounces to the ton just because we had visible gold over 14cm, although a few meters at a few grams/ton would be a great result for initial drilling as this would mean that gold in economic grades is present and that the data generated by the DD will enable the geos to get a better handle on the structure and refine their models.

And if/when BE1 comes up trumps then I expect similar outcomes for BE3 and BE2 – and a whole new gold field will have been discovered. Where will that send the MAT share price?

And if my contention is correct, Blind Freddy can see that MAT is the only minnow in a region of Leviathans. Which one of the big boys do you expect to be the first do want to feed?

PP is presenting on Wednesday afternoon at the Gold Coast Investment Showcase. I expect a release of the deck slide from the presentation as well as DD results and potentially AC results also. All of this could/should flow through this week as well as an update from PP at the conference as to the status of MAT’s transition from “explorer” to “producer” status. In short, as Sir Alex Ferguson once famously stated, we’re getting down to “squeaky bum time”.

I have no doubt the gold is out there; we just have to find it.