Hole 74 is going to be very important in relation to the NW target. If their target definition has been correct, the this is going to show contiguity between there and Federico. In that case we are going to be looking at a mineralized zone of roughly 1200 x 600m.
I think the fact that 76 has shown strong mineralization in addition to this is extremely significant, given as you said, the location of the hole. I have tried to interest a number of friends in the potential of this property over the past months and the response has almost universally been a shrug. I can't blame them, they have all been following their own gold stocks and they need another like a hole in the head. Events this season caused me to scrutinize this situation very critically as the program progressed. What finally swayed my opinion was the comparisons between this property and the known geological model that was the basis for comparison; Pascua.
I think a cursory look does not lend itself to a favorable impression because the grades are not flashy. But it is as you said, Pascua averages less than 1.5g/t, and in fact, LAC's early program showed a lot more misses and sporadic intercepts in the early stages than has this one. What has been borne out over time in this model is that these pockets and pods of mineralized material seem to be snaked across and under the property and have been followed for great lengths at depth. We are seeing long intercepts of bulk mineralized material with significant sections of 30 - 70m or so running significantly higher grade. The company has already measured an inferred resource of 3 million oz at Federico alone, and the potential there has not by any means been exhausted. The advent of hole 76 indicates strongly that this resource is going to expand significantly as exploration progresses.
Robert will be the first to tell you that my attitude towards this stock has been one of skeptical expectations: let's see if the pieces of the model are in place. They are beginning to piece the model together, and the more it's face becomes defined, the better I like the way it looks. By the time next season is well underway, I think that our early interest, critical examination, and now our optimistic expectations will prove to have been justified. |
