very early days yet at granmuren

Re speculation about the economic implications of the forthcoming assay results from hole TS004 and the geological and assay results from hole TS007, beneath hole TS006:

Obviously something like a significantly thicker massive sulphide intersection in TS007 would be another positive economic indicator, but overall it is far too early to judge the economic outcome of Drake's work at Granmuren.

There have only been six holes drilled into the Granmuren mineralisation at this stage. Three of which have been shallow, and the overall pattern has not been drilled on a regular grid to allow a 3D interpretaton. These are simply the discovery holes that tested the original, low-resolution airborne geophysical anomaly.

The mineralisation so far defined is open in all directions and open at depth, so its potential extent is unknown. It is completely unconstrained by drilling.

The next stage then is to find out how far it goes in each direction, where any additional higher grade sections occur, and then to delineate the overall volume, tonnage and grade of any economically-mineable resources within the overall mineralised body or bodies.

To do that, the company must:

1. Determine the dominant dip and strike of the mineralisation

2. Lay out a surveyed surface grid, orientated at right angles to the strike.

3. Carry out a detailed ground EM geophysical survey along these grid lines, to map the prescence, nature and extent of the know subsurface conductors and any additional ones (all of which have so far proved to be sulphide bodies).

4. They must then drill out the full extent of the known mineralisation/conductors, plus any additional conductors found by the EM survey, by drilling holes along the parallel grid lines, in a direction and at a declination that is as near as possible to right angles to the dip and strike of the known mineralisation.

Once they have done all this, they will then be able to calculate how much mineraisation they have, at what grade, and at what depth, and whether it is economically mineable, and at what scale, profitability and overall likely value.

This will be a long and expensive process, during which there will be one or more additional capital raisings (hence the need to renew their 15% placement capacity at the coming February GM), but it has already been started, and they still have sufficeint funds to proceed with the all-important ground EM survey and make a start on the follow-up drilling.

Along the way the market will be on the lookout for and will resond to any news, which it may perceive in the short iterm as either positive (eg. massive sulphides in any drillhole, stronger and more extensive surface or downhole EM conductors), or negative (eg. perhaps a lower, TS003-type assay results in hole TS004-extended), and the share price will of course go up or down accordingly.


In the broader picture though we do now know the following facts:

1. Drake made a barely-noticed nickel discovery back in April 2012.

2. A couple of lines of follow-up ground EM and two follow up drillholes have since extended this discovery considerably, and this has finally aroused the market's interest.

3. What they have found so far is a thick, disseminated body of nickel mineralisation, which contains appreciable widths of what may yet prove to be economically open-pittable grade, PROVIDED sufficent tonnage can be demonstrated to exist at sufficiently shallow depths

4. To establish the tonnage present, the body must now be drilled out in three dimensions, ie. in cross sections, along parallel grid lines

5. A further capital raising will eventually be required to complete this job.

5. However, the body is open in all directions, and so the likelihood of finding more mineralisation and perhaps additional massive sulphide pods beofer this is done is high.

6. In addition, Drake also has several other unexplored nickel prospects in the surrounding area, which with further exploration, may be eventually contribute to the economic viability of the Granmuren discovery, or may even turn out to be be viable discoveries in their own right.



So from Drake's point of view, they have explored for and successfully discovered a new nickel deposit. They have now started the next phase of work, which is to assess the economic viability of this deposit. That work will continue until they can either make a decision to mine, or until they have shown that there are not enough tons there at a high enough grade to mine at a profit at current metal prices.

This process will take a long time, with many highs and lows along the way. But having made such a promising discovery, Drake will certainly continue to explore it and to drill it out until they have tested its economic viability.

Very early days, and impossible to know yet, but the process may continue from here all the way to a decision to mine.



(None of the above is intended as investment advice. I am not an investment adviser)