Medinah Minerals (MDMN)

[RD759]

The assay results from porphyry deposits are never particularly visually impressive - porphyries are low grade, large tonnage deposits that get their value from their volume.

This is the first set of holes to be drilled and they are adding more definition to the Gordon breccia pipe, while hoping to tag the top of an underlying porphyry (though that is not, as yet proven). Once the drilling is complete the holes and the intersected mineralisation can be modelled in 3D to create a wireframe and then 3D solid to give an in-situ resource. Once they have this they can then run a series of simulations and pit optimisations to see if the resource can be mined profitably. Based on these results and how they think the geology will pan out (no pun intended!) they will make a decision on whether to continue the drill programme and step out to expand the area under exploration.

While it's exciting to be finally drilling you need to put all this in perspective - I've just come back from Central Asia where a friend is working on the Bozshakol porphyry project. This is a billion tonne plus deposit, but the average grade is only 0.35% copper, with a little silver, gold and molybdenum. It has been under exploration since the 1950's and has over 1700 drill holes into it and still needs further definition. Even with the apparently low copper grade they are expecting to produce 75,000 tonnes of copper metal a year over a 40 year life of mine.

ADL is just at the beginning of the exploration cycle. There's a long way to go yet.