Motivation for Additional Drilling in 20231.....The Inferred Resources are ignored in the SRK report as they do not meet the 44-101 economic requirements .
So inferred are treated as waste rock , increasing the strip ratio
In the original Scenario 3 in 2013, Inferred resources were included .
What a difference .
At a production capacity of 7,400 tpd, ( 3.3 m tpa same as current model ) the life of mine can reach 21 years, with 20 years of stable production, and one year of production reduction.
So, bringing Inferred resources into the current mining scenario makes all the sense in the world as the NPV will increase substantially and cash costs will decline because fixed costs brcome a smaller fraction of overall returns
2...Going deeper to access higher grade ore.
There are 5.5 million tons of Inferred resource grading at 2.56 gms per ton below the current pit amounting to 460,000 ounces. In the 2016 report, this was in the form of a compact ore body just below the optimized pit.
Drill to convert to economic grade of Indicated....would add 5 more years to LOM and increse average grade while lowering mining costs per ton.
3...Add resource by drilling outside the current optimized pit.
Only a few holes but there is more gold outside the current pit
4...Bring SJ North into the open pit model by doubling or more the 19 holes that are insufficient to provide an economic base for open pit mining...
This would be the Super Pit model which could add more than 5 million ounces into the economic model.
The motivation for increased drilling is obvious which ever way you look at this deposit.
F all drilling has taken place since 2013.
We have plenty of cash to drill.
The upside will be substantial to massive in any of the above scenarios
Its about time don't you think ..