RE:"Jewelry Boxes Defined"
Tk11455ok wrote: Does anybody have any way of estimating what NFG has currently uncovered in ounces based on what has been drilled so far?. I've seen and understand length x width x depth x concentration, but these "veins" are varying concentrations, varying orientations, varying widths etc. It seems like the veins have only one thing in common and it is that they are entirely chaotic. I probably won't even be very convinced of the accuracy when the pros give it a value as it seems there will be a lot of guestimation. Can anyone just take a stab at the ounces in the Keats zone with just the findings so far? Any comparisons out there? I've tried to do some math on this, but eventually realize that it's entirely speculation. Thank in advance!
TK
We did some rough back of the cigarette package calculations last spring using a specific gravity of 2.7 and an average grade of one ounce per ton because we had heard rumours there was 4 to 6 million ounces of gold at the Keats Zone. Rumours are just that rumours and of course we quickly realized that figure was out to lunch.
Anyways, myself and the Rock Doctor sat down one night last spring with a few glasses of rum and coke and had come up with a total of 2.4 million ounces just at the Keats. These were very rough calculations with a lot of assumptions due to the erratic nature of this system. But now looking back at it I think we might have been a little generous so I rounded down to 2 million ounces at the Keats.
So once I had the figure of 2 million ounces just at the Keats I was at first disappointed especially after hearing rumours of so much more until I researched the Swan Zone at Fosterville. That zone rarely had a resource of more than 2 million ounces at any time (original reserve was set at 3 million ounces) because they kept finding more along the high grade shoot as they mined deeper because it just kept going and going and guess what? After 6 or 7 years of mining at about 400 to 600,000 ounces per year they still have a resource of somewhere north of one million ounces. Everyone says they will run out soon but so far they have done a great job of maintaining a healthy resource even after 6 years of mining the high grade zones at the Swan and Eagle because they keep finding more as they go deeper well beyond the 1000 meter mark. The vertical component of these types of gold systems is very significant.
And keep in mind that these numbers on the Keats is just in the 200 meters near surface. These high grade zones most likely extend to 1000 meters and beyond so in our case coming up with 2 million ounces would be multiplied by 5 so you could theoretically end up with 10 million ounces eventually at the Keats Zone if it extends deep to the 1000 meter mark. Again this is based on a lot of assumptions. And there is obviously no way of knowing with any certainty about the vertical component of these zones so early in the ballgame until a whole lot more drilling is done.
So I'm glad that Snidely came up with a similar rough figure of about 2 million ounces at the Keats if you include the low grade and higher grade. The old Rock Doctor still has some brain cells left up there in that head of his yet after 60 plus years of drinking. He says he started when he was 12 years old and never stopped. Lol. He must have a cast iron liver. Oh my.