"It may be taking longer than expected to deal with the Chromite in the D-2 drill core ."

I'm sure that it is going to take some time. As I understand the assay process, irradiation of the sample has got to be the bottleneck. Just speculating from my physical chemistry back at uni, and the characteristics of the McMaster reactor, but the target sample has a rather finite size, and it takes considerable time to flood the sample with enough neutrons to make the chromium atoms radioactive......you can't do parallel (i.e. simultaneous) processing of samples. It's one at a time through the reactor. NOT's samples alone represent a significant queue in the line-up for part-time access to the reactor. There is no two-day assay for chromium.

*Because* we're talking chromium, *extra* patience is required, IMHO.

Lar