RE:News : Drill results from Goldboro 15000 metre drill programOnce again...great numbers.
Key for me...
"The results to date continue to confirm significant high-grade gold zones in key areas being considered in the feasibility study, but excitingly they are being found within much wider zones of gold mineralization. These indications of broader mineralized zones could positively impact the mine planning work currently being carried out as part of the optimized feasibility study by reducing inherent mine dilution and increasing the contained number of near-surface ounces."
To me this indicates they are considering doing a bigger open pit than previously considered...doing so will drastically reduce the cutoff grade down to probably 0.5g/t from high-grade underground (2.0g/t cutoff), thus as greatly increasing the number of near-surface ounces...whatever makes the most money...bring it on
This is also a key piece from this PR...
"A total of nine (9) visible gold occurrences were observed in these drillholes which consistently intersected mineralized belts as predicted by the current resource model." Mineralized intersections in both the EG Gold System and within the WG Gold System commonly included narrow high-grade intercepts within broader zones of gold mineralization.
To me this says they want to take a bigger chunk of Goldboro via open pit...I too have see this many time and often wondered, which veing within the package does one take when one goes underground to mine the 3 - 5 meter wide belt...One can see that the visible gold is genereally in one vein or two veins within the entire belt...but does it migrate over to the next vein within the belt as mining progresses forward on the vein??? probably, thus making it a more difficult to selectively mine the really high-grade material.
I saw the same thing in the underground bulk sample, belt as one can see on their website was mined at about 3 meters wide but the 'bulk sample' belt is upwards of 10 meters true thickness in this location...how does one decide which section of the 10 meter thick belt to take when one blast might be great, but the next not so great and there is gold along the wall (oooopsie).
Doing a larger open pit will be the best decision IMHO for this key reason.
As the pit is being developed, close grade control should be done on each and every belt extracted for processing in the mill. As the benches proceed, one should be able to accurately determine which vein(s) within the larger belt are worthy of chasing underground....taking the guesswork out of it.
If a larger pit is planned, ounce count will go up as cutoff grade will be lower...grade too but better economics...keen to see new resource estimate and Economic Study...should be a Merry Christmas!