$EXS...SLOW & STEADY...The prevailing belief shared by many of the attendees at the PDAC, as well as a number of presenters at the event, is that the value of GOLD will reach, and exceed previous highs. The Federal Reserve in the US has made it clear it intends to raise interest rates two, or three times during 2018. Its widely felt that debt, and the increased debt servicing costs may, in fact, bankrupt a number of institutions, and potentially, start a domino effect throughout the financial community worldwide. Add to that the myriad trade uncertainties internationally, and the perceived net effect is that GOLD will move, at least considerably higher. Explor is focussed on further delineating the Central Pit area of the Timmins Porcupine West GOLD Deposit (TPW), to further satisfy lenders that 250,000ounces of GOLD are readily available for Open Pit extraction in that area of the known deposit. The TPW GOLD deposit is very close to the Tahoe mill at Bell Creek, as well as Goldcorp’s facilities slightly to the east of the deposit, so processing the ore shouldn’t present a problem. I personally witnessed a lengthy discussion between a very senior Tahoe official, & two of the Company’s Senior Geologists, one of whom spearheaded all the TPW exploration to date, and will lead the delineation drilling team at the Central Pit on site. Selected TPW core samples from the proposed Open Pit have been sent to the lab for metallurgical testing, which should be completed within the next few weeks. That testing will determine, with some relative accuracy, anticipated ore recovery rates, and hardness factors, that in turn, impact extraction costs. My understanding is that a number of lenders from the United States, and Europe, are considering supporting the open pit scenario on the heals of the testing.
Further, I wanted to point out an interesting observation in regards to the March 5th results at the Company’s East Bay property. Although its very early days, its very encouraging not only to report 4.85grams over 2.5meters, but also to find GOLD ‘in the sediments’. This easily merits additional drilling as many important GOLD deposits have been discovered in sediments around the world. At the TPW, the ‘glory hole’ returned important values in the sediments, which led to the higher-grade discovery at depth.
Congratulations to the team on yet another important property acquisition the other day. The Hoyle Township block lies directly between Tahoe, & Goldcorp, and represents the fifteenth ‘property of merit’ in Explor’s impressive portfolio. With the prolific Bell Creek, Owl Creek, & Hoyle Pond GOLD mines directly south, & very close by, exploration undertaken in due course should be very interesting.
