LabsThe last time I spoke to Mike he wasn't very happy with the work and service that Chemex was doing. All 400 samples that was provided to Chemex came back with results, but Mike did not think they were reliable and was uncomfortable with releasing the results. All samples, including the 400 previously sent to Chemex had to be redone at Act Labs and hence the delay. All future assays will be done at Act Labs and should expedite the process.
The critical part of the REE assay process is the preparation work so if the test equipment was not properly cleaned, maintained, and/or precisely calibrated the results would not be accurate. In addition, the sample must be crushed, mechanically split and then pulverized.
I am hoping (as well as Mike) to get assay results out before the conferences, but this all hinges on lab's turn around time. I read on Act Labs site and was also posted on one of the bullboards that Act Labs can process 2300 REE samples/day. Keep in mind that the 2300 samples number is based on a single pass. From what I gathered many of the 1500 samples that CIN provided to Act Labs underwent multiple passes based on the testing protocol. This is usually good news, but this is only my hypothesis.
Sample preparation is very time consuming and when the assays are all said and done Act Labs will need to prepare a report which takes time to draft, check and approve before it can be released.