the robert emmett cross course, page-8

I've been looking for more data on The Robert Emmett Cross Course, in particular how much ore has been produced from the structure and actual mining depths. Haven't tracked enough data down yet but I'm still looking. I do have a reasonably clear idea of what HEG has discovered and more importantly, what still needs to be done.

Two drill holes have penetrated the cross course. Neither of them returned much in the way of assays but that is the nature of nuggety gold, especially extreme nuggety gold. The cross courses at Hill End would have been part of the plumbing system when the ore was being emplaced. This means cross courses would have experienced a greater flow of fluid than the veins. The crystallising grains of gold would have had more fluid passing them and more opportunity to grow in size. High grade pods in the veins typically run at 10oz/t. The quoted historic grades in the cross courses is 20oz/t. I expect much of the unmined Robert Emmett cross course to carry grades of this order.

Development along the 640 level is advancing towards the Robert Emmett Cross Course along part of the Mica veinset. However the cross course is not the destination, just part of the journey. The development continues in high grade ore but I do not have information on recent rates of advance. As well as advancing the drive, the company is developing new, high grade stopes in the veinset. To varying degrees, stope development will impede development of the drive itself. Complicating this situation, the drive was, and probably still is, being developed using a staged technique to maximise grade.

Once the drive has been developed to the cross curse, the company will be able to collect masses of data on the structure. There is a good chance of bonanza grades but significantly, the mica veinset is expected to continue past the cross course. Currently, ore from the veinset will be more or less paying for development so in a sense, the journey is "free". The cross course will need to be drilled out but the time to do this is after development has reached it and the structure has been mapped and measured in detail. When this has been done, the company will be better able to target their drilling.