RE: This Sounds Impressive...ukchris, I believe you asked what this means:
"'The size and strength of this biogeochemical anomaly make it the best ever seen in Nevada' according to Shea Clark Smith, Consultant Geochemist and a pioneer in the development of this technique."
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What it means is that gold and silver are present in the soil, and that some greasewood plants themselves contain relatively significant quantities of gold and silver. They can be a strong indicator of what's below.
What's most significant is that the Geochemist who sampled the Monte Cristo plants--and who does this for a living--says the levels of precious metal in the greasewood plants at Monte Cristo are the HIGHEST HE HAS EVER SEEN.
So, unless the soil moved to the site from somewhere else (where it could have picked up the gold and silver), this may indicate that high levels of precious metal are present below.
That the site for the readings of these plants is adjacent to the McLean Lode; that it also overlaps a resistivity high about 700m long similar to the McLean Lode; and, that there are prior, old, small workings in the area (one of which had rocks piled next to it that tested at 13g/tonne of gold) apparently interests GSM enough that they think it's a good place to drill.
It's a combination of science and detective work. You have to piece together clues as best you can, select sites to drill where you think you have the best shot to hit a vein, and hope your clues lead to finding gold. Educated guesses are made.
The veins are hard to find. Look at the Midas mine in Nevada, for example; they didn't hit a vein that lead to a mine until their 38th hole. And, by the time Newmont is done with that mine, it may produce 6 million ounces of gold.
When GSM hits a vein in this area, it'll indicate where the strike is and lead to an expansion of the resource. This, in turn, will lead to a higher stock price, which makes raising funds, easier. That then leads to more resource definition and the ability to drill new areas of the property, which should lead again to a higher stock price... You get the idea--a virtuous cycle.
All they need is ONE good hole and we're headed to the promised land. GSM has terrific properties; the company will be on its way. Greasewood plants and biogeochemistry may lead us there.