RE:RE:RE:Images / videos from Twitter from different users Thanks for the fotos; every little bit helps.
Speaking of helping, I am taking this opportunity --- that is, these fotos --- to put together the following LONG comment regarding the particulars of the day-to-day coring operations, hoping that it may be informative to some … in order to better appreciate some of the impact of such tedious exploration efforts on overall project timing. Be informed that reading this comment may not be worth your time --- it may not be your cup of tea --- if you are interested solely in gleaning info that may help derive a better understanding of the present or future value of OCO shares.
Okay … onward: I’m sure there are others in the reading audience --- who are more experienced in the day-to-day workings in hard-rock mineral exploration efforts --- that is, those who can provide a more accurate caption for each of these fotos, but, in the meantime, in the following, here is what I am seeing in them:
[1st foto] Core Warehouse: not quite Fort Knox conditions but an impressive Warehouse space showing well-maintained, organized and stable banks of core shelving; in the foreground section filled with plastic white trays which I will assume hold the existing core, and, in the distant shelving section, a lot of space for additional core trays to be filled. It’s just one foto, but to me, it’s impressive: well-organized, good archiving practice, well-maintained, etc.
Note: the property seller does not get any extra credit for having such a “good looking” core facility --- such is expected from any reputable seller --- however, for a seller with a “low rent” looking physical archival area, it might draw some demerits, or, at least a lower sense of confidence in the product.
Note: fly-by-night companies do not have such well organized core warehouses.
[2nd foto] Core trays/boxes: Yeah, it’s generally clear what these are but specifically my question is: [a] are these boxes/trays of at least some of what may be left of the “not lost” historical cores; or, [2] are these from the CURRENT ONGOING drilling effort? Note: sure this foto has some interest, but, of these fotos, I don’t think that it is of much importance.
So, yes, it’s clear that these are core field boxes from: ST Drillhole-13, ST Drillhole-29, ST Drillhole-37, etc … with the respective drilling meter intervals indicated … but, I do not know whether these are the historical core or some of the newer stuff? I am sure someone can identify the core numbers.
By the way, on the top of these boxes, you can see these are from the diamond drilling team, which I am assuming was/is a local coring company; however, I cannot make out what that top-of-box info --- inside the “yellow ellipse” --- is all about. To me, it looks like the head of an eagle, or, maybe a condor --- part of the logo --- but I can’t make out any of the text.
Note: I’m going to take a guess and say that these are boxed historical cores … just because of the way in which they are packaged and “dumped” there against the wall. Again, this foto, IMO, may not be one of higher importance; primarily, it seems to me, it was a convenient subject.
[3rd foto] Oroco Technical Team members [good foto that ties in directly to the 4th foto]: a nice in-house foto of what I am going to assume are some members of the Oroco Geo-Eng team. The two younger guys I am going to assume are hard-rock field and core warehouse geologists --- the hand lens and the multi-pocketed vests are a giveaway ... field geologists are often found stuffing rock samples into their many pockets --- and, the gray-haired gentleman I’m guessing is the on-site local geo-technical manager, and, the other guy is from Oroco management. [Maybe some one can name him for me/us.]
The foto, aside from the geophysical maps laying on the table, is a good “brothers in arms” human interest story, which lends a bit more significance in the 4th and final foto.
[4th foto] Coring Rig in “non-vertical” drilling action: to relate to the previous foto, we can see included, encircling this active drilling operation, the same guys also in this larger group … and, from different perspectives, particularly from an investor’s perspective, this foto may give an improved understanding of why the on-site presence of the geo-technical personnel is critical.
So, aside from the drilling rig, and, in no specific order, things that I noted in this 4th foto:
[a] in the center-left, laying at the feet of the bystanders, we can see a good number of white plastic core boxes, waiting to be filled;
the geologists, from the previous foto, are here because, as it comes out of the ground, they are the first ones to EXAMINE the core, and to verify, in general, or, maybe to some level of mineralogical detail, what the core actually contains; that is, Cu-sulfide mineralization or none or etc; where, aside from the hand lens, I do not know what other specific tools for such analysis they may have on-site.
The way the process goes is, as quickly as possible, immediately as the core sections come out of the ground, these geologists need to accurately assess mineralogically the core section and RECOMMEND whether to continue drilling, to stop or otherwise.
Note: for whatever reasons, it may be that they will not be able to reach a high-level of confidence on-site conclusion --- sometimes, the quick and dirty mineral assessment comes up short --- and they may then need to speed off to the core warehouse, to use some of their other on-site tools, in order to apply additional advanced mineralogical analysis techniques. As we are all aware, speed and accuracy --- that is, efficiency --- is of the essence.
You can understand why these on-site geologists are critical to an efficient coring program; where, in this case, I am going to guess that the elder gentleman, also from the previous foto, is El Jefe and most likely makes the final geo-technical call after he reviews with the field geologists the on-site mineral interpretations. Note: we can see him in the lower-middle foreground, with the black Oroco baseball hat, nearest to and with his back to the photographer.
Overall, based on what I have seen in these fotos and etc I am suspect that this is a good geo-technical team, experienced and knowing what they are doing; where, nonetheless,with every meter of new core, they are improving their efficiencies. It takes time, with each new project, especially one so large, to get up to speed on such geo-technical tasks and challenges … all that require much detail.
Note: with these fotos, I am describing, in general, only one of THREE of the more important field geologic coring decisions: that is, [1] whether to continue drilling in any particular active borehole; while the other two major decisions, that is, [2] which precise intervals to ASSAY, and [3] integration of new core results into the planning and precise placement of future core locations, will take a bit more time … because such will require more detailed analysis. All of these have huge impacts on overall project time and costs.
[c] on a side note, we can see in this 4th foto the Company man, that is, the guy, from the previous foto, the one who was wearing the Oroco hat, sitting to the far left … in the shade and near to the orange “beverage” cooler.
Additionally, in the foto:
[a] in the lower-left, on the red metal “garden-hose” spool, we can see what I believe to be the spooled directional survey cable and etc; [Someone correct me here if I do not have this correctly. Do we know how often, that is, at what drilling intervals, a directional survey is recorded? Such surveys help ensure that the drilling is precisely along the planned trajectory.];
also, see the in-flight drone, flying, in the background, in the line of sight just above the drill rig mast.
Regarding the core location drill pad:
[a] it has been brush-cleared and leveled; not extensively --- sometimes explosives or much heavy machinery clearing is needed --- but, we can see that such takes time and effort and that, the local enviro authorities are correct, IMO, to require that proper permits be filed and proper techniques be used;
For their coring operations, do such core rigs need much water, that is, does some sort of water or mud reservoir pit need to be dug out and prepared … or, on an as-needed basis, is the necessary water hauled in separately? Any such water truck would be filled from the river, yes?
[c] Site remediation, after the coring is completed, most likely, is also required, yes?
Regarding the core drilling rig:
[a] Is this the new Oroco-owned rig?
My knowledge on core drilling is not very extensive, but, I’m going to guess that this rig is heli-portable; it seems to be very light, but, it must also be capable of drilling and extracting these rather deep cores.
[c] in the center-right of the foto, just to the left of the driver door’s rear-view mirror, there are laying about several sections of casing … which to me seem a little larger diameter … which I will assume will be surface casing … which may be needed, in the starting portions of the borehole drilling where the rock, more highly fractured, are more likely to be encountered, are more likely to collapse the borehole;
[d] while, in the center-left background, we can see the laid down sections of drill pipe, which, while coring, are sent down hole individually;
[e] one last item from me: you can make out, more or less near the center of this foto, there is a barrel of “GRASA” … which is “grease” and I am pretty sure this is aka “pipe dope” which is the grease that is applied to every drill pipe joint when it is “made up”, that is, when it is connected at the top of the working drill string assembly. The dope is applied regularly … to ensure that the pipe joints make up and break up readily.
[f] maybe, if someone else is so inclined, they can comment on whether, indeed, this is the Oroco-owned rig where, additionally, hopefully they may be able to provide a few more comments about that particular rig ... and/or they may want to correct or expand on my comments.
Regarding other personnel who are in the 4th foto: can anyone identify any of the others in this foto?
In closing, yeah, this comment is quite long, and a little in the weeds, but, hoping that at least to some … some of this info was of interest.
Kind regards.