As for hole 5 being the best hole in history, it unfortunately doesn't mean much when a drill hole goes down the dip of an orebody, as the drilled thickness is greatly exaggerated. Noront knows this as well as anyone. Yes, the grades are excellent, but there is no way the ore lens has a true thickness of 60 m in hole 5. Look instead at holes 7 and 8, or holes 9 to 11, all of which passed within 10-20 m of hole 5 but at a "better" angle to the ore lens. However, even these holes give a greater-than-true thickness of the ore because they were drilled at angles of 45 to 70 degrees to the east, whereas the ore lens is estimated to dip about 80 degrees west. Of these holes, numbers 7 and 9, which were drilled at angles of 45 degrees, will have ore intersections that are closest to the true thickness (which will be about 75 % of the drilled thickness).

There seems to be a problem with the coordinates given for the hole 12 in the press release. The collar is given as 50+02 NE, 11+88NW. However, it is also stated that the hole is 37.5m south of holes 1 and 2. Well, it can't be both, because holes 1 and 2 were collared at 51+00 NE, 12+10NW. If the latter location is correct, then hole 12 would have to be collared about 100 m from hole 1 in a SSW direction. This is an important point to clarify because it makes a notable difference to the estimated strike length of the ore lens.

In any case, given that hole 12 is being drilled to the east, it is heading towards the ore lens intersected by hole 1 (which was drilled to the southeast). This may explain why hole 12 hit a sequence of massive sulfides followed downhole by semi-massive sulfides followed by net-textured sulfides, which is similar to the sequence in hole 1.

The drilling so far confirms early suspicions that the granodiorite terminates the peridotite to the north, to the east, and even below in the case of the hole 5 area. AuContraire has been essentially correct in all his comments about the geometry of the ore lens, including the fact that the northern end of it, which was shallower and appears to have come to the surface, has been removed by erosion.

The only hope now is to continue to step-out further to the south (while avoiding the menacing granodiorite encountered in hole 4). If indeed hole 12 was collared about 100 metres SSE of hole 1, then the strike length of the sulfide lens is now about 150 m (from about 5030 to 5180 on the company's grid). I would estimate that the high-grade portion of the ore lens has a thickness not exceeding 30 m (based on holes 1 and 2). The extent of the ore lens in the subvertical direction has only been determined thus far by holes 9 to 11, which lie on one section and by nearby hole 5, which bottomed in granodiorite. In this "northern" area, the drilling indicates that the sulfides cannot extend more than about 100 m in the subvertical direction. In the "southern" area, where hole 12 is drilling, the sulfide lens could extend to greater depths, but then again, it might not. Two more holes would have to be drilled from the hole 12 station in order to determine the subvertical extent of the ore lens (I say subvertical because the dip of the lens is estimated as 80 degrees).

So, at present, we might have a lens that contain, for simplicity, 150m x 100 m x 30 m x 4.5 (density) = 2 million tonnes. This, again, is based on hole 12 being collared 100 m SSE of hole 1. If it is anything less than this, then the strike length and tonnage decrease.

It is beyond me (and many others) as to why the company hasn't posted a simple plan map showing the locations of the drill collars, and in fact, did not even post all the coordinates until today. It is as though they are hoping most people won't bother going to the trouble of making their own sketches -- yet this is critical to understanding what's going on! And they would not be giving anything away to their competitors, as everyone knows where the discovery hole is located.

Although the exploration grid is oriented 45 degrees to true north, it now looks like the company is beginning to drill along east-west oriented sections. This is because the ore lens now appears to strike (and plunge) roughly to the true south, whereas initially the strike was inferred to be NE-SW based on geophysics. I suspect the company will probably now drill another hole or two on section 12, then move further south and drill another east-west section. The holes will start getting deeper if the ore lens is indeed plunging to the south, so the time between drill holes will increase.