RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:Rhetorical questionMMV started drilling Standby location in 2018. While I wish the drilling was done at a faster pace, it is not uncommon to see a nano-cap junior spend this much time exploring a single site; moreover, the results produced at this stage of the exploration process are well within the range of the discovery process for some of the historical Homestake ledges discovered in the area - a point made numerous times by the MMV team.
There is nothing wrong with being frustrated with the process, especially when we are waiting on another PP to complete before the drills start again; but one has to apprieciate the fact that what they are seeing/proving, and the rocks are telling them, are signs of a world-class Homestake deposit - remember that most of the Homestake deposits share common/repeatable patterns.
I highly encourage anyone who is so inclined to study the geology of the Homestake mines to apprieciate the results found so far, allowing you to sleep better at night.
The fact that they have only hit ore-grade (ie. economical grade gold) in a couple of places in the upper tail fits the Homestake model, since the gold grade distribution in the lower and upper tail areas is sporadic and discontinuous. These small and discontinuous zones may contain high grade (> 15 g/t) gold-bearing rock that is less than a meter wide (very tough to find with a 2" drill hole), or low-grade (1-4 g/t) material that is several meters wide. They will now commence infill drilling to prove up (what they believe to be) a 2moz resource in the upper tail. As you move closer to the core (or Centroid), the continuity and frequency of these gold-bearing rock segments increases (inside the Centroid they may be 10s or even 100+ m wide).
The intense alteration and sulphides uncovered from their recent phase of drilling is what we expect to see from a Homestake mine. Some of the drilling cores from the recent drilling, from a visual perspective resemble that of what one would find in a Homestake museum (just ask the MMV team), albeit without the grade (due to complex geology and reasons I have explained above). The Homestake museum also maintains samples from around the Centroid area with clusters of big chunks of visible gold; hopefully (if the Homestake pattern repeats here at Standby), we will find the same when we drill the Centroid deeper down.
Even when Homestake managed to find an ore body (Ledge 9 has something like 200 or so of these ore bodies), only 30% of their holes woud actually hit ore grade. The point made by MMV in one of their news releases:
"- Due to the complex geology at the Homestake mine, only 3 out of 10 drill holes would intersect ORE GRADE intervals, even within ore zones. Homestake followed the structure and mineralization of these zones, even low-grade gold intervals accompanied by intense alteration guided into more robust centroid areas of gold mineralization."