Hi Creative,
Let's hope you are on the money. Regardless, your first sentence summarises XTC Management's approach - get old good ground and go deeper.
A major critic on this thread oft repeated one liner is ~ the area has had the s**t drilled out of it; however, he assiduously avoids the key point the company's management has been making. In brief, yes, there has been a lot of drilling historically in the areas it has acquired but the majority was shallow, often just auger depth. And without being too critical, a lot of the pre -2000 drilling doesn't seem fit for a JORC.
As for XTC's approach, get historically good ground (no one can assert Southern Cross has not produced a lot of gold); then drill deeper.
And if that strategy is flawed, well a lot of people haven't got the message about shallow historical drilling being the end of the line.
There are several good examples of small companies taking exactly the same approach as XTC, with one CEO recently claiming, after first drill results came in, ~ we got the land for the cost of a second hand Porche 911. But the Porche had hardly been driven~, (Got to love enthusiasm). We are not allowed to cross promote so no names here. But it is near the unlisted Plutonic's mine.
Another small operator is reworking an old Western Mining piece of dirt, 50 or 60 clicks north of Laverton. WMC (is no longer listed), which employed some of the best geo's WA has seen, walked away from that mine when 12 g/t just wouldn't pay. This mine/area is being actively re-worked and the same strategy is being applied - find good old ground and drill deeper. The key bit is, early results would make a lemon-eater smile.
Ditto for another company on old ground near Leonora. Just drilling deeper, and apparently is doing a lot of smiling.
Put simply, I am with you Creative.
lemons
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