I think Snowden is correct and I will be buying more today
Snowden's response
Given the heterogeneous nature of the Valley of the Kings mineralization, Snowden has consistently advised Pretium that the entire 10,000-tonne bulk sample needs to be processed prior to completing a reconciliation that can be considered robust. Dr. Simon Dominy of Snowden is reviewing the sample theory underlying Strathcona's sampling protocols for the sample tower and will be providing a formal expert opinion to Pretium. Dr. Dominy has noted that he concurs with the current approach of submitting the entire bulk sample (as batches) for full processing through the Montana plant, and has advised that such an approach is always the best route to fully evaluate bulk samples and/or trial mining parcels.
Dr. Dominy has provided a preliminary report to Pretium that covers several areas of consideration for the evaluation of the design of the sampling program. This includes the appropriate application of mineralization characterization study, and the difficulties in achieving representative samples in a high-nugget coarse gold environment.
Dr. Dominy is a dual qualified mining geologist engineer with 25 years of experience, across mine operations, academic research and consulting. He has an extensive global record of auditing, designing and managing gold sampling and assaying programs. He is a leader in the sampling of coarse gold deposits, and consulted, lectured and published widely on the topic. Recent sampling assignments have included: audits and reviews; integrated studies of ore characterization, gold deportment and metallurgical testing; sample size determination; sample protocol design and optimization; the application of the theory of sampling; metallurgical plant sampling; metallurgical sampling; and grade control systems. He also has extensive practical experience in surface and underground bulk sampling/trial mining program design, planning, management and interpretation.