what we have already - known jorc, page-2

Allot depends on which direction the company take, will it be gold a focus rather than copper? Of course this depends on the upcoming drilling results.

Secondly, how is the gold and copper distributed? We know from artisan mining and trenching/soil samples that gold does outcrop at surface and is easily mined, however, the real money is at the source. The majority of mineralization on the island is hydrothermal style, with faults and other structures controlling the deposition. Once drilling has ascertained targets, knowledge from neighboring tenements with regards to how the faults affect ore body shape etc will be crucial. Once this is ascertained, any good geo will be able to delineate how far the target extends with minimal exploration drilling, resulting is less drilling costs and time.

I would hope that once we have some good drill data in, MNE will consider SAM/IP surveys over the suspected ore body (s) to show the market what lies beneath. Although expensive for a small cap, these surveys will give investors (both retail and industrial) allot more confidence and bring stability to the share price (in an ideal world). Also, this will again reduce exploration drilling time/costs.

With regards to the copper, one would expect, due to the tropical climate etc, two copper profiles exist; supergene enriched copper towards the surface and possibly on the profile of fault, and primary (ie chalcopyrite) further down the structural feature. Dependent on grades and volume, MNE may decide that both heap leach and flotation plants will produce highest recovery rate.

Finally, I will be interested to see what package they use for assays, and how many elements they look at. In such deposits, it would be prudent to spend a bit more money upfront to look at a whole range of elements, as every economic credit they discover will lower production/extraction costs and make a project, that in my opinion is already very juicy if one ignores the daily trade noise, even more attractive to outside investors and potentially help with the massive outlay of money a fully operating mine will require.

(Apologies if I have covered something MNE has covered in an announcement, I have read all announcements this year from MNE but also hundreds of others from other companies recently, so my apologies if corrected)