Recently, I have been following the news flow from De Grey Mining (ASX: DEG) and it occurred to me that they may turn out to be the only real gold project to come out of the Pilbara for a long time.  I know there is some gold history out of the Pilbara region but that was a while ago.  The Pilbara region is a harsh place for the unprepared. Even the great Mark Creasy had given up on the Pilbara and made his fortunes in the southern goldfields of Yandal, Albany Fraser and the Kalgoorlie region. There is no argument that there is gold in the Pilbara region, it’s just that nobody has yet found a sizeable source. Like the Patterson Range where there has been limited “exploration” due to its remoteness, the Pilbara suffers from a lack of success. I have seen chunks of manganese on the surface and very colourful pegmatites during my limited time in the Pilbara but ultimately, this is Iron Ore country. Those that have spent many more moons in this region tell me that they get close but as yet, come up with nothing. I found this Mines Department Annual Report from 1914 and you can see that there is a suite of minerals identified as of interest. I can guarantee many ASX company would love to go chasing them in today’s market. The issue is that even today, none of that has been even noticed. Some may have been investigated and listed as non-economical. However, I would have a guess that most would be overlooked from a market sentiment point of view. However, what could be interesting are the ones that were overlooked due to a lack of funding or technical misunderstanding. What’s the Issue? Looking at the diagram below, you can see that the Pilbara is predominantly an Iron Ore country. The BIFs (Banded Iron Formation) that strike from one side of the basin (Newman) to the coast carry a minimum of 30% Fe. Since the rise of the Iron Ore boom in the 1970s, the Pilbara has really been a single commodity region. Some players have gone in there to look at Nickel and Gold but it has not made an impression.  There is also the Wittenoom asbestos mine which was a world-class deposit being shipped out of Point Samson (not sure if they were shipped out of the other ports). The conglomerate gold rush in late 2017 was what made this place stand out in terms of a commodity other than iron ore. The rush was international and money from big names came flooding into the region. I think that is a rush that could have opened the place up for real exploration. The rush for lithium did not make the same impact. I guess that is why there is the term Gold Fever. Obviously, when the Conglomerate Goldrush came, that fuelled the speculation that this is why there has never been any primary source. The theory was that the gold was deposited rather than your traditional “primary” source. Kind of like sedimentary deposition…etc. This was the main aspect of the story that got everyone excited and the association with the South African Witwatersrand conglomerates and their resources in billions of ounces.  The traditionalist felt that the story was just that, a good story.  A lack of success on that theory would end that rush. Corporate Information (Source:  Commsec) Market Capitalisation: 62M Outstanding Shares: 334.47M (2018/06) Top 20 shareholding: 51.40% (2019) What is the REAL value of De Grey Mining? De Grey is not your ordinary explorer.  When one looks at this company, in my opinion, you need to understand that you are investing in a company that is the whos who of gold mining.  I am talking about the following shareholders, Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd (ASX: KLA ) with 9% DGO Gold Limited (ASX: DGO) with 7% Kirkland is an 18.4% shareholder of Novo Resources Corp (TSX-V:  NVO) who has a JV (Farno JV) with De Grey.  In turn, the shareholders of Novo are also highly notable gold bulls, such as Mark Creasy, Sprott Asset Management and Newmont Mining Corp.  Hence as you can see, they are well connected. I think they must be the most well-connected company that does not operate a mine, yet.  DGO Gold is chaired by Ed Eshuys who was the right-hand man of Great Central Mines discovering major nickel and gold mines in the 1980s and 1990s. Novo Corporation has the “famous” Quinton Hennigh, who “discovered” the big resources for Kirkland Lake Gold’s project at Fosterville Gold Mine in Victoria, Australia. My point is that when you look to invest in this company, you are with some good company.  I am not saying that this is a given that they will discover things and make the company great.  I am just highlighting that you are in the company of some good names.  When one looks at the management of a company, as I mentioned in my article ( 5 Points you Need to know before Investing in a small-cap resource company on the ASX? ), there is a focus on who they are and what they have done before in the past and what they will potentially do in the future..  When you have so much experience close at hand, it would allow technical issues to be sorted out easily. This would be a great tick of approval in regards to the correct management. From the project asset register, one will see that they have got some decent resources and if the economics hang together, there will no issue raising the funds. This has got to be one of the easiest fundraising campaigns when the time comes to doing that job. The Projects (Source: De Grey Mining Limited ) The projects are located 60km south of Port Hedland in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia (see Figure 4).  The company has mentioned that there is a mineralised strike of approximately 150km.  The total tenement packages are approximately 1500 square kilometres.  Currently, their gold inventory is a total of 1.4Moz (see diagram below).  They are shared by several deposits over the 150km strike. Like most of the goldfields a couple of decades ago, the amount of drilling in this region is primarily to bedrock, which literally means drill to when it gets hard.  Hence, most of the drilling is less than 100m.  I do suspect that the maximum depts would have been in the 150m department.  The Pilbara is a place where there is not much cover.  Unlike the goldfields, you pretty much cannot dig too deep.   Hence, it is pretty interesting that in places where you find decent mineralisation, there is a deep “soft” geology, for obvious reasons :-).  In places like Carlow Castle, you can get RC drilling doing 400m in a day.  That is not going to happen if you start drilling the BIFs, especially the fresh kinds of stuff. This is a region that has had previous mining and exploration success so there are good reasons for optimism in making this work.  Items such as infrastructure will not be an issue and the cost of mobilisation for construction will be reasonable.  All these factors are aligned with the fortunes of the company. Geological Factors of the Projects The geology of the projects is pretty straight forward.  Most of the projects are now at the stage of just needing more drilling.  The aim is to accumulate information to construct some sort of a resource leading to mining.  It is no longer an issue of discovery, the drilling data just need to be consolidated.  The latest announcement on the Toweranna with the release of 136m @2g/t got my attention.  LIke the Ausmex story , where there was the intercept of 59m @1.25g/t Au, and 0.43% of Cu. The 136m to me was some sort of validation that they could have some depth to the story.  These days, I tend to look for the length of intercept and not just grade of intercept.  Repetition over sections is also a good thing. On the 15th April 2019 , the company announced the latest drilling result from the Toweranna project.  Figure 6 above shows the drill plan and the drilling can be seen over three sections which are described over Figure 7, 8 and 9.  The cross-sections showed clearly the information which caught my attention.  The drilling did show that the mineralisation at depth could be substantial and of a decent grade. The grade is not going to set any records but if mineralisation does get extended from 200m to 400m, that will be something that you want to really shout to the markets. In Figure 7, the proposed drilling will hopefully put that theory to bed.  One must think that this will happen unless there is a great big fault in between and displace the continuity.  I have not seen any geophysical information but I am assuming that management would have noticed this possibility.  A mineralisation length of 280m would be really good for the share price 🙂 I noticed that in that same announcement, the company made the comment that this style of mineralisation is not common in the Pilbara and has analogies to Wallaby (Goldfields) and the Jupiter (Dacian Gold Limited) The Toweranna deposit shows a style of gold mineralisation not previously known in the Pilbara, but similar to other granitoid hosted gold deposits around the world, many of which host large gold resources (>1.0Moz). Two Western Australian analogues are both located in the Laverton region of the Eastern Goldfields and include: • the Wallaby deposit (Goldfields Limited) – >8Moz resource and producing over 250,000oz per year; and • the nearby Jupiter Deposit2 (Dacian Gold Limited) – 1.6Moz resource. Additionally, the Lamaque and Sigma gold deposits in Quebec, Canada, have both produced over 4.5Moz each for total production in excess of 9.0Moz3. Mineralisation and mining extend at Sigma to over 1800m depth.  Importantly, these large multi-million-ounce gold deposits also tend to occur in clusters, providing longer-term upside to discover additional Toweranna style targets within De Grey tenement portfolio. De Grey is assessing a number of early-stage exploration targets including to the south west of Mt Berghaus. —De Grey Mining Personally, the fact that you have these clusters of mineralisation with decent resource numbers is already different from what is around in the Pilbara.  The closest to something like this could be the Carlow Castle project that is owned by Artemis Resources Limited (ASX: ARV) .  I covered this project in an article in late 2018. It was titled, Best undiscovered project: Carlow Castle an unconventional Gold-Cobalt-Copper mineral Project . If there was a negative aspect of this good story, it is that the resources are far apart.  Toweranna is approximately 100km from Winginia and this is going to be an issue in the short term.  I think many projects claim that they can economically mine several satellite pits and make money,  In many cases if not all, I think this is more of a hope than a fact.  This is more of a fact if you are a Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) , a Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) or a Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) .  To be fair, if DeGrey can establish bigger numbers to all their projects, then this will not be an issue. It is very early at this point to make an encouraging or non-encouraging call, but the one concern I have is when you look at Figure 9, the mineralisation is not very lengthy.  Sure the plunge may come into play but I would have thought that anything significant will hold true for at least 80m (two sections).  I would have liked to see longer intercepts that will create meat for the resources. Conclusions De Grey Mining Limited has gone through a large transformation process. I remember the first time I came across the company, around 2015 (I think), they were trying to sell off one of their assets. I forget which one now. They were struggling in the market and looking for directions.  Fast forward to 2017 and they became a front runner on the Conglomerate Goldrush.  Couple with a large holding in the Pilbara area and influential investors such as Kirkland and DGO, the company became noticed.  The share price was moving and in some ways, the company was being noticed more than the ARV-Novo partnership. Large sums of money were being raised even though their landholding in the Conglomerate Goldrush was not the most prospective. However, after the dust settled, it is safe to say that DEG may have come off better.  The shareholder list will most likely help with future fundraising assuming that the story unfolds well geologically.  Looking at the data presented by the management, I do see some good signs that the current resource would increase. My one unknown factor is I don’t have much information on the metallurgical aspects and that may or may not turn out to be a deal breaker.  This may have been mentioned but I am sure the standard company issue is that all is well. Time will tell if that is the case. I have no doubt that if management drill more and get a decent number for the tonnage, the matrix will get better and the success will provide a good ending to the story.  The take away from this story is that without the strong shareholding on the register, I would think that with the amount of work required to make this work, most companies will struggle to get it done.  There is going to be a lot of money needed to be spent in the coming years. The downside to such a strong shareholding will be if that translates to a stranglehold on sudden share price run.  In the past, many of these top-heavy companies seem to struggle with this part of the equation.  Time will tell. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au . About Samso

Liontown Resources Limited (ASX:  LTR) had a spectacular result from its latest drilling.  On the 20th May 2019, the company released the headline numbers (See image below).  I am always a sucker for significant intercepts.  As I have always said, there is nothing better than a great long length of intercept.  You can see the market expectation with the stock rising from 2c territory to nearly 10c. Corporate Information Market Capitalisation:  31M Outstanding Shares:   1.1B Top Twenty Shareholding: Approx. 50%  (Tim Goyder: 18%) From the share price chart below, you can see the market liked the results.  I agree that it is still too early to say if this price rise is going to be supported.  I think in this market, it is hard to say.  Buyers are scattered, and the majority of the buyers are punters who are not the “sticky” money.  The fear in the market is also not encouraging punters to stick around.  The uncertainty in the lithium market is another factor. A recent chat with industry people highlighted that there is just no retail trade.  The T+2 system in the market is not allowing “real punters” to do their thing, and that is to “gamble” on these kinds of situations. What is the Fuss? The fuss is all about this nice diagram you see below which is part of the Kathleen Valley Lithium project.  The announcement of a 90m of intercept with grades of 1.3% Li2O has excited the market.  The project has a current “resource estimate”. The results were in line with the ongoing story, and I think this shows that the Kathleen Valley project has some good legs.  Whether it turns out to be a profitable mine is another story.  The cross sections show where the intercepts were and how they appear with the other pegmatites. The drill plan location plan (Figure 1)  does give an impressive look at the potential of the area.  The ongoing issue for mineral resource deposits such as this is that the real possibility is not observable yet. Many punters assume the best, but for those trying to prove economic viability, there is still a long way to go. You can see in Figure 2 the orientation of the pegmatites.  As promising as the story is being told, I am cautious as to how this story will end.  From an exploration point of view, there is a good reason for excitement.  The grades are looking consistent and without knowing other aspects of the mineralogy, it is hard to have any firm conclusion on the outlook.  Notwithstanding all the doubts, this is indeed an exciting time for the company and the story. Currently, there is an excellent strike length of 600m, which I would assume that the company will want to extend. The intercept is deep, but it does give a level of optimism that there is endowedment of the system in the region.  Some of these pegmatites can be very wide and be reasonably consistent.  I am not sure if the grade is sufficient to make everything work.  I remember that the figure needs to be higher.  As I have always mentioned in my previous articles, it is more about the end size than a spectacular grade. All the deposits, irrespective of the commodity is about the mining grade and the mining tonnage, which then will be determined by the AISC (All-In Sustaining Costs).  As you can see in Figure 2, the pegmatite layers are pretty deep down.  I remember my Galaxy days when I was freezing in the paddocks logging the drill chips.  They were very shallow, and at that time, it was considered deep. If I am not mistaken, they were no more than 20m+ below but were stacked with waste in between. I am not saying that this is not going to happen as a mining proposition, but I think it is worth a thought.  Liontown also has the Buldania project, and that looks interesting too. Beautiful thick intercepts that are carrying some grade.  However, I think, for now, Kathleen Valley is giving some needed profile to this lithium sector. Always good to see people have exploration success and making our small-cap exploration sector buoyant and full of hope.  That is what drives this industry, and job creation is always a welcome result. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au . About Samso

M incor Resources Limited (ASX: MNR) acquiring the Long nickel operations is a good indicator of the changing nickel market.  This changing dynamic is a good thing. I remember the consolidation of nickel projects in the early 2000s, which was the start of nickel prices running to the stratosphere. It probably is a bit premature to call the beginning of good times, but I think consolidation, divestments are a good thing.  Independence Group (ASX:  IGO) have their hands full with Nova and rightly have sold to get the upside with the Mincor.  This sale is IGO is saying, here is the project, Mincor, you do it and make us lots of money, and in return, you give me some of your shares.  The sale is a significant vote of confidence for value.  A cash deal would not have made sense, and I think the market prefers this deal. The all script deal (unless I have read it wrong) is very favourable. IGO has also put up money for the placement which got to be a massive vote of confidence on the acquisition.  If you digest this sale, it is becoming less of a deal and more of a partnership. The Long Nickel sulphide mine is located 45km south of Kalgoorlie at Kambalda East in Western Australia. While current reserves are estimated at only three years of productions,  the company is confident that it will be able to extend the reserve base given that the two primary deposits, McLeay and Moran, are open at depth.  The mine currently extends 600m below the surface (or 1km below sea level). Table 1 below outlines the resources that are in the Long acquisition.  My thoughts are that Mincor will find more resources and the operation will allow a more dedicated exploration program to define and upgrade the current resource. Time will tell if there are more resources in the ground, but I think a mineralised system like this has to have more legs than what is shown now (spoken by a non-shareholder 🙂 ). As readers would know that I am a Nickel bull, I do think this is going to work well for Mincor.  The whole EV market wants more nickel sulphides, and as the inventory of nickel sulphide projects is very low, projects such as this will increase in value.  How all this pans out, in reality, will be very interesting but I think there is sufficient evidence in the market to indicate a positive outcome.  There are now even talks that the use of cobalt will decrease and the use of nickel sulphates will increase. How Mincor goes about the business of reshaping the Kambalda nickel status will be solely based on how best the leverage the Long operations.  It sounds like the infrastructure at Long will help them develop their own nearby Durkin resource.  If that was the case, then the resource at McLeay and Moran will be a bonus.  Future exploration results will make this a desirable proposition. This brings me back to my first remark.  Mincor making this move to buy and IGO allowing this to happen with very favourable commercial terms will create the possibility of a nickel catalyst.  This nickel catalyst could ignite the market and kick start the mineral resource sector.  This kick start has been a long-awaited event, like the “conglomerate gold rush” that set the industry buzzing in 2018.  I am convinced that when this happens, the mineral exploring companies will be buying drinks at the bar again. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au . About Samso

The Davyhurst Project is located approximately 120 km north west of Kalgoorlie within the North Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. This large scale project comprises 112 mineral tenements totalling approximately 1,336 square kilometres.  This coverage provides approximately 200 strike kilometres of greenstone sequences prospective for gold as well as sulphide nickel and base metal mineralisation. The Company is focused on unlocking significant value from the company’s strategic and prospective landholding. To achieve this, the Company will target resource development activities at five advanced projects, namely Riverina, Waihi, Siberia, Callion and Golden Eagle. This work aims to deliver a robust Definitive Feasibility Study to underpin the future development of Davyhurst. The project has a 1.2 Mtpa conventional CIP processing facility with associated infrastructure, including an extensive road network, 160 man camp, administration & workshops buildings and a large bore field. The tenement package is accessed from Kalgoorlie by a series of well-formed, unsealed shire roads and haulage roads. Airstrips are located at Davyhurst (Callion) and Mt Ida (Bottle Creek). ” — Eastern Goldfields Monarch Gold Mining Company Limited (No longer trading) consolidated the project around 2008. Since the consolidation, there has not been any work done in the area due to the corporate activities and the insolvency of entities involved. In 2008,  I was working for a private company doing some iron ore work, and I learnt that Monarch was going to end up in tears as there were issues with the project. It was not a matter of not having the gold.  It was more a fact that the extraction was not simple, and it may have something to do with the chemistry or the structure of the ore bodies.  I cannot recall if it was specific to the gold being refractory or some issues with copper, or some structural complexity within the orebody,  like Blackham Resources Limited (ASX:  BLK ) in Wiluna.  Anyway, the conclusion was that the projects would struggle. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying this is a lemon project. I am a firm believer that lemons if used appropriately, can be used to make lemonade.  And we all love lemonade.  You have to remember that around that time, gold was still around the sub $1000 mark and we were almost on parity with the USD.  Mining services cost were at an all-time high.  Iron ore was all the buzz, and nothing outside that sector was exciting.  I remembered in 2008, Silverlake was putting out great news, and there was no traction.  Gold was not a flavour of the month.  The once vibrant town of Kalgoorlie was almost a ghost town. Diggers and Dealers were just acceptable. In fact, at that time, attendance numbers were not very attractive. So funding and market interest for gold projects were not high on the agenda. The Resource There is no doubt about the potential of the project.  As you can see in the table below that was printed in the Eastern Goldfields website,  there is ample gold in the ground. The grade is also decent compared to what is out there in the market.  These days, anything above 2g/t is excellent.  It will be interesting what the new guys will do with the project. What don’t I like? As an eternal optimist, there is nothing currently that I don’t like.  I am assuming that the new management has seen what has not worked and had put contingencies in place so as to not make the same mistakes.  The bad news around Eastern Goldfield’s demise is a sad state affair for the investors, but a repeat of the same ways of operation would be the single worst factor for the new entity. Geologically, there are apparent issues, but with technology and the market changing so fast in the last decade, I don’t think there are any deal breakers.  There will be some projects that don’t stack up but the key for me here is adequate funding. I am assuming that the money raised had a fantastic plan — a new idea that has taken into account price movements and technical hurdles.  As I mentioned previously, there is a big difference in the market sentiment now as compared to 2008.  Like the diagram below, as in the movie, The Raiders of the Lost Ark, let’s make sure there are no surprises. What is of concern would be the significant tenement commitment to the Mines Department.  I would think that cost would be running into the millions of dollars.  Raising AUD23M does not seem to be a lot of money if you take all this cost of administration into consideration.  OPEX may appear to be on the light side.   The high wages that seem to be synonymous within this industry to the top management is one that I have always found hard to comprehend.  Company management teams are customarily incentivised with lots of performance share and options, but yet they are paid high wages. What do I like? I like the fact that there is a significant strike length and you have mineralisation throughout the project.  When there is smoke, there is fire.  This phrase is my favourite when looking for a deposit in the mineral resource industry. For nearly 20 years, this substantial tenement holding that has not had any exploration or mining activities. You would view that as a good thing.  It is as close to virgin exploration land as you can get today.  In terms of exploration, one always look at what may be left undiscovered or unexplored. Look at Bellevue Gold Mines (ASX:  BGL) , Northern Star Resources Limited (ASX:  NST) at Kundana, Acacia with Higginsville and the list goes on. They went and found significant deposits that were not looked at, or not given the funding to look at in the past. I have learned over time that miners don’t venture too far out of their operations as they need to concentrate on what they have.  There is limited exploration, and in the 19980s and 1990s when many small producers were in the sector, there was just not enough capital to be distributed to ensure proper near mine exploration. This lead to future opportunities for new players in the market.  I am not sure of the real factors that lead to the downfall of Eastern Goldfields, but many would suspect management.  While this may be true, in many cases, a lack of funding can lead to poor management decisions not due to ignorance but due to a need for e=relocation of funds. Hence, now that the dust has settled and all the bloodletting has stopped with, one would hope that the future ahead could be positive for the new entity. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au . About Samso

Sulphate of Potash (SOP) is indeed an agricultural phenomenon within the mining industry and probably should not be treated as a commodity. I don’t think the retail investing community fully appreciate the sector or is probably too impatient.  Like all things in life, we pigeon hole our thoughts. I feel that SOP should be treated as an agricultural product.  A product that should not have any connection to the typical mineral commodity community. The whole SOP industry is now pretty mature with several companies already way down the road on feasibility and mining studies. Technology is now pretty off the shelf, and new players will need to be innovative in how they approach the market. My optimism for the Sector I think we are seeing signs that we may be fast approaching a period where we cannot seem to grow enough food to feed the increasing population on this planet. The only way we can sustain our needs is to increase yield without knocking down more acreage. It is this thinking that I got interested in this topic of the whole potash fertiliser thing and how it will improve the quality of food being grown and also increase yield. In terms of an investment opportunity, I have read many stories on how deserts are being transformed into an oasis. Now that is a great concept, but I know they must be putting something in that soil other than water to make that happen. Hence unless we get the big evil Thanos (for those that don’t know, Watch The Avengers: Endgame) to come and click his fingers and wipe out half of the human population, we better find a better way to feed ourselves without poisoning each other. On the way, it would be nice to be able to latch on a sector that has no limits, like aged care and childcare. Is there room for New Players? SOP is a premium potassium fertiliser required for healthy plant growth, plant metabolism, optimisation of crop yields and quality of produce. It is a necessary fertiliser for high value, chloride sensitive crops such as avocados, cocoa, coffee beans, grapes, berries and tree nuts, as well as arid and acidic soils. Potassium is also of vital importance for human health where it is required for normal cell function, maintenance of cardiovascular health and prevention of stroke and coronary heart disease. Companies that are new to the market have one great advantage, and that is the ability to pick a strategy that works and one that will give them a competitive edge. Assuming that they have got an acreage with SOP and the tenements can be granted. SOP projects will need 100s of square kilometres of salt lake playa and interpreted paleochannels (ancient underground rivers). It would be ideal to have early exploration that has established a JORC Compliant Exploration resource/target as a minimum. You would also want to be close to infrastructure. In the above Figure 1 and Figure 2, an example of a live SOP IPO project, (Trigg Mining Limited),  it appears that their projects are well-connected to transport and energy infrastructure.  Many roads and tracks access the projects and two gas pipelines passing directly through the area.  Nearby airstrips are located at the nearby working mines, as well as the commercial airport at a nearby town.  These kinds of infrastructure are almost mandatory for bulk commodity projects to reach the market. So What is Sulfate of Potash (SOP) and Muriate of Potash (MOP) (Source: Agrimin, Investingnews, Salt Lake Potash) According to my google search, Sulfate of Potash contains 50% potash and 17% sulfur to crops. This potassium sulfate fertiliser is chloride-free and has a low salt index, less than half that of muriate of potash. Crops that are sensitive to chloride require SOP. SOP demand is driven by high-value crops, where the cost of fertiliser has less of an impact on crop profitability. The negative part of SOP is the high cost of production. The Mannheim Process is costly, and it also produces an unwanted hydrochloric acid by-product. MOP is the primary input in the process and represents approximately 75% of the production cost. Some other SOP Facts SOP currently sells for approximately AUD$900+/t (2019) The global market for SOP is ~7Mtpa, and ~70,000tpa is consumed in Australia annually (100% is imported) Market grade specifications for SOP are deemed to be >50% potassium oxide (K2O), > 17.5% sulphur (S) and <1.5% chloride (Cl) 50% of the SOP used globally is manufactured via the Mannheim Process, and the balance is extracted from ancient salt lakes What is The Mannheim Process (source: Wikipedia) The Mannheim process is an industrial process for the production of hydrogen chloride and sodium sulfate from sulfuric acid and sodium chloride. The Mannheim furnace is also used to produce potassium sulfate from potassium chloride. The Mannheim process is a stage in the Leblanc process for the production of sodium carbonate. MOP or Muriate of Potash or Potassium Chloride is the most common of potash fertiliser. The form of fertiliser is only for crops that love chloride and for soils that are chloride deficient. The negatives are the chloride can be toxic to the crops and the soil. The needs have primarily driven the demand for MOP for food. The decreasing yield is ignored as the demand has exceeded that ratio. I think some of this demand is also coming from an Increase in wheat farming. I read in one research that there is a rise in carbohydrate form of food as the “third world” is getting self-sufficient in that form of food. It is a cost-effective way of allowing them to get into a self-sustaining cycle. As for what I call those in the “first-world” problems, they are acknowledging that there is a need to “clean-up”, I do feel that if companies can produce SOPs and make money, they will prevail. This is like what the iron-ore industry is witnessing with the high-grade ores being favoured as China comes to grips with cleaning up the pollution that is generated with lower grade ore being used in steel mills. What a typical SOP Project has to deal with? The SOP is dissolved in brine contained in sediments below and around the salt lakes, which is affected by: • The capacity of the sediments to retain brine. • Variability of the brine chemistry throughout the aquifer system. • The ability of the sediments to release brine during abstraction. • Viability of abstracting the brine at the required rates • Effect of brine abstraction on the regional hydrogeology and environment. The new thinking in SOP manufacturing is a non-Mannheim process such as that described in the diagram below.  Several companies are now entertaining this process.  Effectively you could say that this process is similar if not identical to that used in Dampier to process their salt. Are there any other players in the SOP sector. The whole potash industry has been around for many years. As I mentioned, it started with the phosphate flavour, and I remember this was off the back of the uranium rush back in 2006 or even earlier. It kind of went for a six month hard run on uranium and then it was phosphate. The Potash rush came later, and of late it has been quiet, for me anyway. Researching this article, I noticed that some of these companies have been established and are travelling pretty good. I did see some news in this sector about 12 months ago, but as I mentioned, I never ventured into any research. I have listed some of the better-known companies to me below from my research. However, there are probably more advanced or better-known companies not listed here. – Agrimin (ASX: AMN) – Danakali (ASX: DNK) – Reward Minerals (ASX: RWD) – Salt Lake Potash (ASX: SO4). What is the positive aspect of New Entrants? One advantage for a late player coming into this sector is that they will be able to get the best practice that is being developed without needing to go through the hard yards of trial and error. For example, to negate the high manufacturing cost, many current companies are talking about doing what I call the “Dampier Way”. Evaporating the brine and then shipping what is left as “concentrates”. I believe that it is a more straightforward process, and it has worked a charm for the salt sector. A couple of years ago, I stumbled onto a group wanting to mine salt in Somaliland. The concept was pretty easy.  In Somaliland, the evaporation rates are apparently the best. The proposal was to evaporate the seawater and capture the moisture to be stored for agriculture. I showed this project some of my contacts in Asia, and there was some interest. The timing was not the best for the participants, and they stopped the negotiations due to internal issues back in China. However, the business proposition was perfect.  Mine the salt, use the evaporated moisture for agriculture and create a sparse land of no agricultural use into an oasis of farms. What are the negatives for New Entrants? Here are some of the challenges that I see, and they are common issues such as, – Define a resource – Feasibility Studies – Funding for ongoing work. Funding is always an issue. However, if you can make the money want you, it is all smooth sailing from that moment. How do you do that? In the normal metal space, and I guess in oil and gas too, you need to show that your project is robust and have all the development ROI sorted.  SOP has one other factor. As a product, SOP is described as having an inelastic demand. This means that the demand for the product is not subject to price movements, or instead not at the mercy of price movement.  Hence, they have the market on their side. Require A Resource Of course, it is a given that resources will need to be established and then it needs to show the economics. But at least if they get to define a useful resource,  funding will be easier to target with a good marketable product. Defining the resource will have its challenges in that the product is in solution, and they can move, literally. My experience with the salt lake hosted uranium projects have taught me that defining a resource could be tricky. As the commodity is in solution, an influx of groundwater and groundwater movement will affect the potential resource for the better or the worse. This will lead to issues in your feasibility studies. Probably not a big problem but I think that it will probably cost more? The upside to this is that new entrants to this market will get all the upside from work related to brine hosted lithium and potash deposits in the last five years. In discussion with associates, we spoke about how the “Americans and the Russians” love brine hosted lithium and think hard rock lithium is a waste of time. Hence, in my opinion, drawing on that expertise to understand brine hosted deposits will be important if not critical. The good news is that the skills are there and not in the development phase. You could almost measure it as an item that you could buy off the shelf. In Conclusion I like things that are simple.  Sometimes when you are too early into the market, you don’t get any love and similarly when you are too late.  How many people invest at the right time?  Well, that is the million dollar question.  There were many winners in the early part of the Potash run, but I think it is not too late to look at this market now.  As for new players, again, this could be the second wave. Investment in the resource market, in general, is not short term. There have been very few companies that have started and was in production within five years. I see any new entrants, either as an RTO or an IPO, as a way of getting into a sector at a reasonably lower valuation compared to what is already out there. Companies will take advantage of best practice in developing the projects as all the hard work have already been done. In some way, the dust has settled and it is now clear to see what works and what does not.  Sometimes a rebuild is cheaper and faster than a renovation. —Clean China Policy— As for the pricing, management needs to take care of market perception. I have this view because the demand for this commodity is going to surface and surface quickly soon. China is now in a clean-up phase, and the environment is the number one priority. You only have to look at the iron ore market where higher grade ores are getting premium as they are allowing the steel mill to meet environmental requirements. This thinking is consistent with my thoughts on uranium coming into the picture as it is by far without out any competitor the cleanest fuel in the market. It has less carbon footprint than any other so-called renewable energy source. It will be the cheapest clean energy alternative. This cleaner way of doing business is a factor that is mostly missed by out investing circles. Food source and the simple fact of high yield and low environmental damage will be in the front of China policy, not saying that it is not already. For an investor, I feel this sector is going to be like the base-metal sector, you cannot live without it, but you can live without lithium and cobalt. It is absolutely a risk, but what is not? Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au . About Samso

To the general public, Vietnam has not been synonymous with mineral resources. However,  Vietnam is very active with mining and currently is host to the biggest working Tungsten mine outside of China. Located in Thai Nguyen Province in northern Vietnam, Nui Phao is the world’s largest tungsten mine, with an estimated reserve of 66 million tons. As the flagship asset to Masan Resources’ portfolio (Masan core business is making and selling noodles), the polymetallic deposit also includes a rare combination of economic mineralisation of fluorspar, bismuth and copper occurring with the tungsten. (source: Mining Global ) The north-western part of Vietnam is host to a  very mineralised belt that extends into China (Figure 1) The northerly trending Loei Belt (Figure 3) from Laos is also very mineralised where numerous copper and gold mines have flourished for many decades. Apart from the numerous established mines, there are a series of small miners like what you would find in Australia, South America and Africa.  Vietnamese are no strangers to the art of mining and dealing in mining projects (Figure 2).  In Figure 2,  you can see that the northern part of Vietnam has an extensive amount of mining activity.  I remember 15 years ago I was doing work for a private company who had a gold project in this part of the world.  The project as a quartz hosted high-grade gold story but they abandoned the whole project due to jurisdiction issues.  The major downside with doing any work in Vietnam belongs to the “highly sophisticated administration” process. Blackstone Minerals Announcement On the 8th May 2019, Blackstone Minerals announced that they have taken the option on the Ta Khoa Nickel Project in Vietnam to earn 90% interest in the project (Figure 1). The project is anchored by the Ban Phuc nickel mine which was mined from 2013 to 2016 and is currently on care and maintenance. The package is 150 square kilometres and has more than 25 massive sulphide vein targets that will give the company all the upside. Some of these targets may be larger disseminated sulphide targets.  The deal is pretty soft, $400,00 cash as quarterly payments over the 12 months and exercising the option with AUD$1M worth of shares on VWAP (Volume Weighted Average Price). The tectonic setting in this region is interesting as it is where you would expect strong mineralisation events.  The structural belts that run adjacent to the project area have a strong metal endowment and especially on the China side within the Yunnan Province.  The NiS mines in China are large systems and this is what Blackstone is marketing.  No doubt the Ta Khoa Nickel project has all the ingredients to make this a world class nickel project. The concept of chasing the Disseminated Sulphide ore bodies makes good sense.  The historical mining strategy of chasing the NiS veins worked well in the past.  However, I do think that the new strategy of chasing the lower grade disseminated orebodies will pay off as there appears to be a readymade open pitiable mine. Granted that more drilling will need to be completed but the historical drilling results are very encouraging.  Remember that these kinds of projects favour those that do go out and test the near mine resources.  Bellevue Gold Mines (ASX: BGL ) did that with their current project and it has put the company is a very strong position. Blackstone has mentioned that there are numerous targets that have not been tested.  The proof in the pudding is when they go out drilling. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au . About Samso

Originally posted on Smart Money Gains Earlier this month Australian Gold producer St. Barbara ( ASX: SBM ) announced it is acquiring 100% of Canadian gold producer Atlantic Gold ( CSE: AGB ) in a deal valued at $802 million. St Barbara’s offer represents a 41.1% premium to Atlantic’s closing share price on the day of the announcement. This deal comes after Australia’s largest gold company Newcrest Mining purchased close to a billion-dollar stake in Imperial Metals earlier this year. Trends suggest that other Australian companies will be looking at purchasing Canadian assets in the near future. The valuation gap between Australian and Canadian producers is projected to lead to consolidation for mid-tier miners. BMO Capital Markets analyst Brian Quast notes that other potential acquirers could include New Gold (TSX: NGD); Pretium Resources (NYSE: PVG); TMAC Resources (TSX: TMR) and Wesdome Gold Mines (TSX: WDO). Atlantic Gold Company Overview Atlantic Gold began commercial gold production in the Moose River Consolidated mining complex a year ago. The operation consists of two open-pit gold deposits that produced over 90,000 ounces of gold at the low all sustaining cost of C$731 per ounce. The company is awaiting a mining permit for a nearby project and is also exploring other areas of their land holdings. Nova Scotia Gold Mining Gold mining has been a big part of this Canadian Province’s economy. To date, over a million ounces of gold have been produced in the province since mining began in 1861. So far there have been 65 historic gold districts hosting past mining operations. Atlantic Gold’s Neighbour has a massive land position Meguma Gold has extensive land holdings adjacent to Atlantic Gold and that leads gold analysts to believe that there is significant gold content at their properties. With Atlantic producing MegumaGold can expect a ton of appetite for their assets as their exploration program moves forward. This map puts it all in perspective….. MegumaGold Corp. CSE: NSAU OTC: NSAUF FWB: 2CM2 Market Cap: C$13M Shares issued: 96,530,640 The company recently announced promising results from ongoing exploration work including one sample that graded as high as 49.8 grams per ton Au. These samples came from waste rock piles associated with previous mining and certainly confirm gold mineralization. It seems that they have found the location of a gold vein and further work should help uncover more details as to the magnitude of the discovery. Meguma is going to be commencing a drilling program that is designed to confirm, expand and reinterpret the known mineralization on this property. The company has sufficient capital to continue its drill program and their 179,280-hectare land position and 11,147 mineral claims should surely lead to some great findings in the near future. Bottom Line Atlantic Gold has been one of the biggest success stories in Canadian gold mining this year. The company saw it’s share price surged 73% YTD. This acquisition is putting MegumaGold in the spotlight due to the close proximity of the projects. With such a massive land position and experience gold mining veterans MegumaGold has the potential to be the next Atlantic Gold within a few years. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au . About Samso

Investors put their money in all sorts of commodities and far-flung places. But there is one product that people seem to ignore which is just as lucrative. I have been looking at the silica market since the early 2000s. I looked at projects in Malaysia, met the vendors and realised that they did not even own the tenements. Then there was the Sri Lankan project, then the one in the Philippines and the last one was in Indonesia. I knew Australia had good projects, but the market was just too far away. The economics did not allow a review until my recent research into the silica market. It appears that the market has done some shifting, and things are not as it seems. Transportation cost appears to be no longer a barrier and products have changed. Technological changes have created products that have a higher value and created a niche market. What is Silica? Silica is simply silicon and oxygen. Silicon and Oxygen are two of the most common elements on the planet. Crystalline silica is the most common form, and it makes up over 12% of the earth’s crust, making it the second most common mineral on the planet. Crystalline silica comes in the forms of quartz, cristobalite and tridymite. Quartz is the most common of these, which transforms into cristobalite when heated at high temperatures (over 1450 °C). Non-geologist will call these particles white sand. The same white sand that you see in those exotic beaches is what pure silica looks like as a product. For thousands of years, crystalline silica was a beneficial mineral used to make products for building structures. Crystalline silica is present in thousands of different raw materials, including almost all types of content extracted from the earth’s crust. It is present in virtually all materials that are quarried, including sand, clays, gravel and metallic ores. It is hard, chemically inert, and has a high melting point, qualities which make it a valuable raw material for many industrial and manufacturing processes. Why are we talking about it? When we talk about commodities, we would mention, nickel, iron ore, copper, gold, lithium….etc. Not many people would put silica into that sentence. Silica is like the fundamental component of almost everything that we need as the all-consuming human species. There are very few items in our daily life that do not involve some percentage of silica. Unless you are living in solitary confinement, you will have windows, and that is silica. It is mind-boggling that most people do not think about silica as a sought after commodity. It is an irreplaceable ingredient in lots of high-tech applications, for example, precision casting, fibre-optic cables, and the raw materials for computer chips. It is present in our computers and phones. It is even key to the infrastructure of the internet, renewable energy and telecommunications. It is a vital part of how we get around – our cars and buses, roads and railways. Our homes are made from it – rocks, glass and ceramics, and many of the things we use every day contain or rely on crystalline silica. For the handy type of people, think life without the silicone gel. How would we fix those little things in the house without silicone gel? In all of these everyday contexts, crystalline silica is entirely safe. It is inert, meaning that it does not react with any chemicals, and it is not harmful to health. Availability as a commodity. Silica is quartz, and when you have a silica deposit, you have a quartz deposit. The purity of SiO2 is what determines the grade. There are a few deposits where the purity is in the 99%+ range, but the majority are not up to the grade. Recently, there have been a lot of countries, such as Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia that have announced that they will not be exporting sand anymore. These are not the high-grade sand. These are more about the construction, landfill grades.  The restriction imposed on importing these low-grade sand may have shifted this market into a higher value status. Silica is not rare like cobalt or tungsten or nickel sulphide deposits, but the market is not straight forward.  The high quality “grade” is significant, and then there are the size fractions.  Finding a deposit that has the consistency of silica grade and a lack of impurities is not easy.  This combination of chemistry and size fractions will determine which market you can participate, and then your location will also come into play. Hence, as simple as the product is, there is a measure of complexity that makes this market unique.  Once you have sorted all of this, you need to find your buyer.  What could quickly stop a project is if the deposit is logistically challenged. There are two companies that I know in the ASX who play in this space, VRXSilica (ASX: VRX) and Diatreme Resources Limited (ASX: DRX). VRXSilica is entirely a silica company whereas Diatreme has other projects in zircon, gold and copper. The projects are worthy of more than a glance.  Diatreme has its projects that adjacent to the Cape Flattery Silica Mine which is being mined by Mitsubishi.  Cape Flattery was discovered in 1967, Mitsubishi purchased the mine in 1977 and in 1987 a deep water jetty was built. Cape Flattery Silica Mines employs over 80 people (source: Cape Flattery Mine). The Cape Flattery Silica Mine gives you a good indication of how profitable a silica project can be if you get everything lined up. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au . About Samso

When I read the news on Gascoyne Resources Limited (ASX: GCY) in the West Australian, I remember all my discussions with investors during my previous life as the managing director of an exploration company — trying to convince potential investors why they should invest their money into an expenditure company as opposed to a production company.  I tried to tell that history shows that those who believed an abandoned mine would now be profitable was actually buying not a lemon but a Golden Pineapple fit for places where the sun doesn’t shine. When I listed Siburan Resources Limited (ASX:  SBU) in 2010, this was the ongoing conversation until I stepped off the Board in 2017.  It was very hard over those years to promote the virtues of investing in a sound exploration strategy involving finding resources and corporate strategic plans was a better option. Is the Production story always better? Many moons ago, I had concluded that any production asset that is not producing is not a good story.  Promoters love telling investors what they want to hear, and I have noticed that when they present a “production” story, they seem always to raise the appropriate funds.  I remember looking at the Aphrodite Gold Mine in 2009 (Now owned by Bardoc Gold Limited (ASX:  BDC) and I passed on it because I noticed that out of the so-called 900K+ of resource, only a fraction was in the Indicated level.  I also figured that they were refractory. It was an old mine that is now not producing.  I felt that this was not an asset for me to use for my IPO. Later on, I find out that they had raised all the 10M that the IPO wanted and had oversubscription. Meanwhile, I was still looking for funds to fill my IPO. Within two years of the IPO, the company had used up the 10M and was effectively a shell, and the mine never developed.  We raised just over 3M and was still cashed up. Investors forget that the margin for a working mine is the same when the gold price is at USD 1000 or USD1800.  CAPEX and OPEX increase and decrease in line with the rising or falling gold price.  Hence, if it did not work before, it will not work now.  The exception is if there was a technological change or a resource/ grade change due to more EXPLORATION drilling.  Simple as it may be, but that is the simple equation. If I were to give examples where this is true, this would be a very long article.  So let’s touch on some of the recent similar stories. Gascoyne Resources Limited (ASX: GCY) Gascoyne Resources made news this week going into administration after just raising AUD 24M from unsuspecting investors.  Looking through the announcements, I calculated a capital raise of around AUD 200M, including debt over 2-3 years, I think. I remember looking at Gascoyne in early 2016 when the gold price was hanging precariously around the USD$1000 mark.  There were a lot of companies with excellent resources struggling looking for funding. At that time, I thought that they had several issues with the grade, size of the resource and their location.  I was on the lookout for projects that could help with some cash.  After I spoke to the management team, I felt that the project was going to have more issues than becoming a saviour project. Turn the story forward to 2019, and I am amazed that all (I am assuming that they would have done their Due Diligence.) of the money raised, has gone down the drain.  I know that the gold price in AUD is excellent, but when you have a project that did not work in lower pricing when others are doing well must surely give you some alarm bells. It is sad to see so much money in projects such as Gascoyne are now lost. The fascinating part about projects such as Gascoyne is that the millions of ounces that are being promoted at Dalgaranga and Glenburgh are not from one hole in the ground.  I have mentioned this before, digging one hole to get 1M ounce is different from digging numerous pits to get them.  Investors should really understand this. Now that the whole project has fallen on its “bottom” or come a cropper, one should ask all these experts that spin numbers so well, the mining engineers that tells you that they know everything and you (the investor with the money) just needs to listen, what happened?  The sad fact is that in all these cases, the finger pointing is as fast and as numerous as you would expect. Dacian Gold Limited (ASX: DCN) Yesterday, I read that the West Australian mentioned that Dacian Gold might be announcing another production downgrade for its Mt Morgan gold project near Laverton.  Dacian was the darling as they discovered more and more ounces a few years ago.  When they were drilling and getting the good news out, the share price was doing well. As soon as they started mining, things are not travelling so well any more. The point I want to make is that if you had invested in the early stage and left when they had the discovery, you would have made money.  All the “smart money” that comes in when they have the mine plan, the JORC resource, the Feasibility Studies, they would not be too happy for now.  A mothball gold project does not really appreciate. I am not saying that Dacian is going broke.  In fact, of the three companies that I have mentioned Dacian should not be used in the same sentence. Dacian management is quality.  The deposit is quality.  The downgrade that was announced was unfortunate but they are still mining good ounces.  But the drop in share price highlights the sensitivity to a highly complex web of mining. Eastern Goldfields Incident (Now Ora Banda Mining) The Eastern Goldfields saga was a tale of the same conditions.  It is a hard project, and they have a large package with so many commitments. You got to make sure you raise enough to cover the worst case scenario.  I have recently written an Insight on this topic – The Davyhurst Project – Ora Banda Mining Limited – my thoughts on this is well versed there and they have not changed.  This package also comes with a large minimum commitment to the Mines Department.  The resources in the pits were left there for a reason and probably should be left there unless you can find more underneath to warrant a change in the volumetrics. As usual, the storytellers will sell that there is a resource and now the price is so good, as a Malaysian would say – sure can make money la.  How many times has this model been used?  The sad part is that this model gets all the money.  I used to say that in exploration, you could lose 10M but in one of these stories, 200M is a common number. Focus Minerals Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au . About Samso

Is the commodity market depressed or is it just not used to the China Panda taking a long time to chew through the bamboo stalks.  Whenever the markets get a whacking, the general public is hoping for a quick recovery. This reaction is natural, but seasoned investors will tell you that this never happens. The recovery is always longer than you expect and usually is more depressing than you wish.  Interestingly, this is the same, whether you are talking about property or the equity markets. Over the last decade,   the commodity boom has been primarily being driven by the growth of China. China has come from a farmyard economy to a world juggernaut in just 30 years.  I was in China a few years ago and an associate (Chinese migrant with Australian residence for 20 years) was telling us that several years ago when he came home to China, he used to take his relatives and friends out for dinner.  Now it is the other way around, and the return of favour was magnitudes of difference.  The wealth creation in China over that time has been tremendous and even surprised those closer to home. Now that China is undergoing a slowdown and Trump is doubling the misery, the world is confused. Should we buy more? Should we produce more? Should we invest more? These are the puzzle that is causing heartburn for the rest of the world. I wonder if all the confusion on the market is just the general commodity market getting used to something new after so many years of the same prosperity. The Chinese Economy Source: Trading Economics The Chinese economy advanced 6.4 per cent year-on-year in the March quarter of 2019, the same pace as in the previous quarter but slightly above market expectations of a 6.3 per cent expansion. Industrial output growth accelerated markedly, and consumer demand strengthened amid government’s pro-growth policies, which helped stabilise sentiments rattled by the trade dispute with the US. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew 1.4 per cent in the first quarter, compared to a 1.5 per cent expansion in the previous period and matching market estimates. It was the weakest quarterly growth rate since the first quarter of 2016. GDP Annual Growth Rate in China averaged 9.52 per cent from 1989 until 2019, reaching an all-time high of 15.40 per cent in the first quarter of 1993 and a record low of 3.80 per cent in the fourth quarter of 1990. Over Inflated GDP Figures In March 2019, I read an article in Bloomberg, which talked about how China had been over-reporting its GDP between 2008 and 2016. As you can see in Figure 1, the GDP range is much like a roller coaster ride.  Over time, there have been numerous reports on this issue, and many debates have argued if this was a conspiracy or an act of jealousy. According to Bloomberg, one of the significant culprits could be the over inflation of growth by local governments.  The provincial government authorities would want to be seen to be achieving economic growth goals to improve their chances of promotion.  These are times before President Xi, where brown paper bags and inaccurate reporting were the things to do.  Local government authorities had absolute power to approve and influence economic development. As President Xi started to exert his authority, fear has been brought over the system and “more accurate” figures are appearing. To the shock of the western economist, these figures started to send shock waves through the market. What was a reality? It was around 2015 when I started getting involved with China investments, and that gave me a first-hand look at how private industry do things in China.  There was no shortage of money, especially with the younger generation.  Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Bentleys were standard features of associates.  What else was apparent was over capacity: elaborate factories not fully occupied and the typical industries that were showcased to create a mirage of prosperity.  I saw several factories, car parts, shoes, clothing, plastic manufacturing and furniture, to give some examples.  The one common feature was the overcapacity.  Many buildings looked like there was nothing in them.  And some of the buildings had 25 per cent occupancy.  Apart from that, things were just “normal”. Friends and associates in China were telling me of a retail downturn, and even the food and beverage sector was not doing well.  The tightening of elaborate “entertaining” killed off “entertaining” cities. Excessive dinning was non-existent practically overnight.  My associates in smaller cities in Malaysia were telling me that the Chinese company officers would be too scared even to be associated with these expensive dishes.  That was how hard the crackdown was on excessive expenditures by government officials. Is the commodity price just reacting to World economics? To blame the fluctuating commodity pricing solely on the China market would be simplistic.  In January 2016, almost every commodity was at its lowest, but Crude oil joined the depressed pricing late in 2014.  That period was the first time that I can remember where every valuable commodity was at its lowest.  During that first quarter of 2016, the markets rebounded, and there was optimism for the next phase for the resource sector. In our new world of debt, corporations servicing the rapidly growing mountain of debt has proved a great deal more expensive than expected. Corporates have been forced to sell their commodities at increasingly deflated prices (and continue to do so). What many assumed were exceedingly good borrowing terms have proved to be anything but, once the cost of exchange rates are taken into account. The slowdown in Chinese economic growth is, in no small degree, the result of problems in the banking industry. In 2016, The issues of non-performing loans were rising at no more than 1-2% a year, according to official statistics. During that period, the actual growth rate in non-performing loans is probably more like 5-10%. The shadow banking story has been a problem since 2016, and there were reports of the second and third level financial institution not having enough money to repay depositors.  The problem in the financial sector has exacerbated domestic slowdown, which will, in turn, create a roll of depressed pricing. The One Belt and One Road Issue. What is a debt financing tool is now slowly biting back with non-repayments and the building of white elephants?   Many projects were built on this debt facility all over the world.  This was going to be the instrument that would help China get its growth back on track.  However, reports are indicating a lack of real growth and economies are being left with white elephant projects.  Ports that are built, but there is no infrastructure to support the development.  One of the most significant infrastructure projects in Kazakhstan is now in limbo. China invested over 14 billion dollars in Kazakhstan as the gateway to the new Silk Road.  There is a great article titled, Kazakhstan – The Broken Buckle in the Belt and Road , which talked about this particular issue. On the other hand, projects in Indonesia are booming. Large state-owned enterprises were implementing the One Belt One Road song, and dance and all is happening.  Factories and cement plants are popping up everywhere. However, the locals are telling me that they are not performing well, and local employees are being laid off or had wages cut to keep overheads down to show profits. Conclusion The slowdown in the world economy is the real blame for the commodity price sentiments.  The China story is just part of the equation but I think commodity pricing has just got too comfortable with a rising Chinese economy.  The European market is not a happening thing and the US revival is coming to a close. If you take into account that the China GDP was really not that high and the numbers were not that big, then you would assume that the buoyant pricing had to do with other factors.  Now that the pricing is heading south, you would have to apply the same relevance to the other non-china factors. One can blame the slowdown in the world economy to the instruments of debt funding that has created a circle of death.  The same geniuses that created all the tools that blew up Wall Street during the Financial Crises are still doing their magic.  The recent demise of Gascoyne Resources, Dacian Gold and all the Eastern Goldfields companies are most likely to have been driven by the same financial models that were created to justify investments during the Ninja (No Income, No Job, No Asset) Loans period of madness. The same instruments are hurting corporations and driving the volatility of commodity prices.  I am no economist but I am convinced that a  combination of these hybrid alternative investment products that are the root cause of the direction of commodity pricing.  One would argue that if investing groups were to make decisions on the factual repayable model, there would be a more stable movement in pricing.  This ability would lead to more reliable forecast on pricing movement and future pricing levels. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au . About Samso

Diamond projects have been my geological soul mate ever since I studied geology in high school. I have always been intrigued by diamonds and the whole coloured gemstone sector. I don’t think I was fascinated with geology. I was fascinated by coloured stones and how they appear in their crystalline forms in nature. Emeralds were my favourite, followed by coloured diamonds. White diamonds are beautiful, but they are just too vanilla. My Honours thesis was on the topic of diamonds. It was after doing my Honours year in Geology that I got interested in diamond geology that was very different from the other commodities. Although I should have done better with the thesis, I did learn a lot from the research with the help from my supervisors Dr Rob Ramsay, Dr Wayne Taylor and the late Dr Nick Rock. Without Rob and Wayne, there would not have been a thesis. What has happened with diamond exploration? The last time I remember a diamond exploration IPO was that by Cambridge Gulf Exploration Limited in the early 1990s. Could have been 1993. They had a plan to mine the diamonds that were in the Cambridge Gulf. The theory was that the action of weathering and erosional would transport diamonds from the Argyle pipe into the gulf. There were Striker Resources which was exploring the North Kimberley Ashmore pipes in the 1990s and then went and tackled the Merlin Diamond project.  Striker changed its name to North Australian Diamond Company, and I think, it later became Merlin Diamonds. Recently there was POZ Minerals who are trying to prove up the Blina Diamonds. Poz Minerals is now called Gibb River Diamonds (ASX: GIB) . Lucapa Diamond Company Limited (ASX: LOM) is probably the most recent successful ASX listed diamond company. Lucapa is mining high-value diamonds from the Lulo (Angola) and Mothae (Lesotho) mines.  They are uncovering some huge stones from their projects. The Webb Project (Source: Geocrystal Limited IPO Prospectus) In 2018,  Geocrystal was unsuccessful in their attempted to list the company on the ASX (Australian Stock Exchange). The company is now still an unlisted public company. The Webb Diamond Project is located approximately 500km due south of Halls Creek and 630km west of Alice Springs (Figure 1). Webb is located in the remote West Arunta region of the Gibson Desert of Western Australia. The Webb tenements contain a large cluster of bulls-eye, magnetic dipole features interpreted to be pipe-like intrusions. These geophysical targets compare to geophysical features of mantle-derived rocks found associated with swarms of kimberlite and lamproite pipes in Archean cratons and Proterozoic mobile belts that host known diamond occurrences. Initial modelling of the magnetic features was based on Government aeromagnetic surveys flown on 400m line spacings. However, additional modelling took place following an aeromagnetic study carried out by Meteoric Resources in 2010 over part of E80/4235. More detailed modelling took place following an aeromagnetic survey carried out by the Company in 2014. A total of 12,574 line km was flown on 100m line spacings, and 280 magnetic dipole features were interpreted. Detailed modelling of selected magnetic targets indicates vertical pipe-like bodies with depths to the unweathered top of the modelled bodies ranging from 50 to 150m below surface and diameters varying from 180 to 300m. Recent Exploration by Geocrystal. In 2013 and 2014, the Company carried out the first exploration and drilling programs (7,713m) over these magnetic features and drilled 64 targets located on tenements E80/4235, E80/4407 and E80/4506, discovering 51 kimberlite bodies. There remain 216 untested kimberlite targets at Webb. In the period 2013 through to 2015, the Company undertook extensive loam (surface concentrate) sampling programs of the desert sands (totalling 42 tonnes) to determine the presence of Kimberlitic indicator minerals and microdiamonds. A total of 27 micro-diamonds were recovered with the majority located within a broad surface microdiamond dispersion anomaly 150km2 in area. The surface microdiamond anomaly is characterised by a high incidence of microdiamonds and with larger dimensions up to 0.4mm at its eastern margin. During 2016 and 2017, the company applied ground penetrating Lozar radar, ground magnetic and gravity geophysical surveys on selected kimberlite magnetic targets within the Webb project area, especially over targets, lying within the large surface microdiamond area.  These surveys aimed to obtain a better understanding of the size, shape and depth extent of the targets and therefore prioritise these targets for future drilling. A New Diamond Province. The Webb project is one of the best exploration stories that I have heard.  The unfortunate part is that its a diamond story.  Looking for diamonds is as raw as you are ever going to get in the exploration industry.   It is a long and slow process and in my opinion, an intellectual tease as you have to look at geomorphology, geochemistry and damn hard work.  My experience in this industry came from my time with Ashton Mining Limited.  Ashton was eventually taken over by Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO).  Those years were the most memorable as I got to work at the Merlin Diamond Project which later became the Merlin Diamond Mine.  It was great to have been involved with the discovery of the Bronzewing Gold Mine and the Merlin Mine in the first five years of my geological career. I was the lucky one as I was supervising the drilling and not doing the stream and loam sampling, which was backbreaking work.  After learning what they had to do, I was thrilled to stick to my mustard. I was like the resident at what was then called Boomerang Creek.  Living in five-star accommodation and cooking five Michelin star meals as you can see below. Why Is The Webb Diamond Project Prospective? The Webb project may have given Australia the diamond province that had eluded great explorers since the late 1970s when Argyle was discovered.  The closest project that came close to a province like Webb was the Coanjula Pipes, which was my Honours Thesis.  Ashton Mining owned the project.  There was a sizeable microdiamond field that led many thoughts that the pipes were potentially a field of kimberlites or lamproites.  However, analysis of the pipes showed that they were alkaline pipes and not from the mantle which produced diamonds. Geocrystal has been working on Webb for several years now, and the evidence is throwing up some very compelling evidence that one or more of the pipes are bearing diamonds.  The project is now at the point where drilling will show either they are on the verge of discovering a diamond bearing field or another false hope. The Geocrystal exploration is headed by Thomas Reddicliffe, who is the technical director.  Mr Reddicliffe described the Webb project as one of the more exciting current diamond exploration projects. Mr Reddicliffe was involved in the Kimberley diamond exploration teams that discovered both the Ellendale and Argyle diamond deposits.  He also worked as the Australian exploration manager for Ashton Mining in the 1990s and later continue to be prominent working in Striker Resources and Merlin Diamond Limited.  A wise “old” man who is a probably one of the few actively working diamond geologist that has seen that much experience. The Webb Geology As you can see in Figure 2, Geocrystal has identified approximately 300 discrete magnetic targets.  Drilling and sample analysis has confirmed the pipes show characteristics to a kimberlite.  Both gravity and magnetic modelling show some of the kimberlite pipes to be potentially as large as 12-15 hectares (Ha) in surface extent5, at depths of c .100m. Exploration by the company has now highlighted an area to the Northeast, where the most prospective untested targets need to be drilled.  The discovery of larger microdiamonds has led the company to believe that this region (highlighted pink area) as the area of most significant interest. What is interesting to me is that the 100s of discrete magnetic targets form a series of linear NNE trending dyke – like anomalies. The relationship between these linear anomalies and the discrete magnetic anomalies has not been established.  However, you learn in exploration that nature never produces a pattern for no reason.  When you have items being injected up from the mantle (a long way down), it always seeks the path of least resistance, and if there is a linear feature that allows you to come up, you do that. What that means is that potentially, these linear features could be part of the whole endowment story for diamonds in the area. Simplistically, what all the evidence are saying is that Webb is a Kimberlitic province that has a cluster of pipes with varying mineral geochemistry indicating that they are tapping different parts of the mantle material that are from the “zone” of interest.  Diamonds are only stable at  900 – 1300 C and pressures between 45 – 60 kilobars. (kB), so to identify that particular pipe from that point inside the mantle, you require statistics. The first good news in Webb is the identification that a cluster of Kimberlite, the source of the mantle (the medium in which potential diamonds are to be hosted.) exists.  The second is the presence of diamonds, and Webb has a microdiamond trail.  The third is the presence of indicator minerals which show the chemistry from that diamond formation region of the mantle. When you have all that geochemistry sorted, you need the geomorphological factors, such as the trialling of the diamond and indicator minerals towards the northeastern region.  The discovery of microdiamonds that are still showing the crystal forms means that they have not travelled that far from its source.  This is an important feature. The photo of the diamond discovered by exploration activities, as shown in Figure 3, is a critical aspect. This small macle is one of 30 microdiamonds recovered from surface sands overlying the Webb field.  Eighty per cent of these microdiamonds are concentrated in the northern part of the kimberlite field within a coherent and repeatable surface anomaly. Webb is a vast kimberlite field, with the pipes tested to date being sourced around the theoretical diamond-graphite transition depth. The deepest sourced pipes tested to date occur in the northern part of the field, so it is not a big stretch to imagine that the source for the microdiamonds will be found in the northern part of the field.  – Thomas Reddicliffe, Geocrystal Limited. Conclusion – My Thoughts I admit I love the excitement of diamond exploration.  Real exploration has not been done for a long time.  There have been a few companies that have gone into “near mine” projects and then moved into production, but there has not been a discovery of sorts, especially in Australia.  The late Maureen Muggeridge led the last person or group that had any profile looking for diamonds.  I may have graduated as a geologist, but I am in awe of the thing done by the likes of Maureen. I had an insight into what is required to find diamonds and how much it cost.  The most important part of diamond exploration is money and time. Both of these items are in short supply in the equity markets and especially the catch cry today is “near-production”.  The reward for finding a producing diamond mine today is the fact you will be the one and only diamond producer in Australia.  Quality stones still see a high price as companies like Lucapa and Lesotho will tell you.  Merlin Diamonds was fetching up to $300/carat. The Webb project is the only project that will give you that option of spending $2-3M and drill those targets. If you hit a diamondiferous pipe and the results are favourable, you will know immediately.  There is no need to spend years looking at the trail, looking for the trail or analysing the geochemistry.  This is the only diamond project that you literally can walk up to it and drill.  A well-executed exploration program is also supporting the optimism. The cluster of Kimberlite pipes in a confined space with microdiamonds that are consistent with a lack of transportation is what gives me the confidence that this could be the elusive diamond province that everyone has been looking for since the discovery of Argyle and to a lesser extent, Ellendale, Melin and Blina. I was the supervising geologist when the Merlin Diamond Field was discovered. Although I did not realise that I had just drilled through the pipe, named Ector but really should have been named Noel, I knew I had drilled something different.  The thrill of knowing that I played a part in the discovery hole (after Excalibur which was discovered 1-2yrs prior) that proved the concept of a field of pipes would be etched in my memory till I am too old to tell the story.  That is what Webb can provide after all these years. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au . About Samso

While trawling around for something interesting, I came across the term In-Situ Recovery. In-Situ Recovery, In-Situ Mining or In-Situ Leaching, according to Wikipedia, is a mining process used to recover minerals such as copper and uranium through boreholes drilled into a deposit, in situ. In situ leach works by artificially dissolving minerals occurring naturally in a solid state. ISR reminds me of fracking and the fishbone technology for the crude oil extraction industry. Samso describes the process as drilling holes into a known deposit and injecting a substance they call lixiviant. This acts as a solvent to “dissolve” and “act as a medium to transport” the intended metal or commodity. ISR is what people would call a disruptive technology that will revolutionise the whole metal mining industry. This is what fracking has done to the crude oil industry and opening up shale oil and allowing competition to disrupt decades of OPEC stranglehold on oil pricing. The disruption to the industry that I mentioned could potentially open up sources of mining where previously was not viable due to cost or geopolitical issues constraints. The process of In-Situ Recovery/Leaching This process involves pumping of a lixiviant into the ore body via a borehole, which circulates through the porous rock dissolving the ore and is extracted via a second borehole. The lixiviant varies according to the ore deposit: for salt deposits, the leachate can be fresh water into which salts can readily dissolve. For copper, acids are generally needed to enhance the solubility of the ore minerals within the solution. For uranium ores, the lixiviant may be acid or sodium bicarbonate. A lixiviant is a liquid medium used in hydrometallurgy to selectively extract the desired metal from the ore or mineral. It assists in rapid and complete leaching. The metal can be recovered from it in a concentrated form after leaching. Lixiviants may work by altering the redox state of ore, or by altering the pH. Acidic lixiviants, such as sulfuric acid, are commonly used to leach base metals such as copper,[2] whereas basic lixiviants such as a solution of sodium cyanide are used to leach precious metals. In the United States, lixiviants which contact the environment are almost always oxidizers of neutral pH because this minimizes risk to the environment. The origin is the word lixiviate, meaning to leach, to dissolve out, deriving from the Latin lixivium. (Source: Wikipedia) All of this is very new to me, but when you do the research into the technology and the current knowledge, it is not that “Star Trek” about it. There has been extensive industry work to show that this could potentially be a game changer in mining metals as opposed to just the hydrocarbons. History of ISR References to ISR date back to 177 BC and the Chinese used ISR to recover copper in 907 AD. ISR has been used extensively in the recovery of soluble salts, such as halite (NaCl), trona (Na3(CO3)(HCO3)·2H2O), potash (various salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form, such as potassium hydroxide, carbonate, chlorate, chloride, nitrate, sulphate and permanganate), boron and magnesium minerals. The first trials of uranium ISR were initiated in the 1960s in USA and Russia and, by 2013, almost half of the world’s uranium was being mined from ISR operations, including those in Australia, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, USA and Uzbekistan. (Source: Mining 3) As usual, whenever there is a need to save money and make money, the Chinese are at the forefront. As I mentioned, the idea is not new, and the technology has been around for a long time. It is just the refinement that needs to be sorted out. It seems that the key in Australia is the research by Mining3 . They have been doing a lot of work in establishing the requirements to extract more conventional commodities. Who is Mining3? (Source: Mining3 ) Mining3 is a partnership between CRCMining and the CSIRO Mineral Resources group formed in July 2016. Mining3 comprises all CRCMining’s activities and CSIRO’s hard rock mining research capability. The partnership brings together significant mining research capabilities to effectively deliver research and innovative technologies for the members and the global mining industry. CSIRO As Australia’s national innovation agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has been pushing the edge of what’s possible for almost a century. CSIRO Mineral Resources works closely with industry partners and delivers innovation to grow Australia’s resource base, increase productivity and drive environmental performance. Mining3 Mining3, previously trading as CRCMining (Cooperative Research Centre for Mining Technology and Equipment (CMTE)), was established and supported under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre’s Program in 1991. It brought together, for the first time, Australian and international leading mining organisations in a cooperative effort to develop innovative mining and processing techniques as well as supporting equipment for the industry. The Centre was successfully refunded in 1997 (CMTE 2), in 2003 (CRCMining 1) and 2009 (CRCMining 2). Under the agreement, funding from the Commonwealth ceased in June 2014, marking a milestone of 23 years delivering world-class research outcomes. Today, it is an organisation that is entirely funded by industry. What are the benefits of ISR? ISR is a bit like the Fishbone extraction theory that I mentioned previously in the article I wrote, Doriemus PLC (ASX: DOR) – Fishbones Stimulation Technology . The implications are similar. Projects that were not viable could come online, parts of the mine that were “left behind” could be extracted. It’s kind of like sucking the last little bit of your bubble tea, digging that last pearl that is mixed in among the ice in the bottom of that bubble teacup. It’s like licking the very last drop of your favourite ice cream from the bottom of the bowl. It’s like drinking that last drop of your favourite Sarawak Laksa gravy :-). The benefits of ISR is simple. Almost every issue that stops a mining process could become a non-issue if this technology were working as it is intended to do. All the cost, the geopolitical, environmental issue could be overcome with such a non-invasive method of mining. Conclusion There is no doubt that ISR will change the mining scene, but as usual, the significance that this technology will create will take time. Will it create an economic factor? Well, that is going to be the problematic variable as there has not been any real test to extract metals commercially. For me, I think to dissolve gold in a vein and then transport that to surface and mine it as we know the meaning of the word today, that is going to be tough. Fishbone Technology for the crude oil industry is very dependent on the characteristics of the hosting rock. This requirement is also going to be the same for this method. Do I think that in time, this will be a plausible scenario? I think that could well be a yes. I believe the path for this technology will allow mining of individual deposits, but it will be limited to specific geological conditions. It could be that particular ore types, like vein-hosted deposits could be the one that is specific enough, usually high grade and contained in chemistry.  This style could be the one that is easiest to reach. Vein-hosted deposits are usually high grade in nature and usually not bulky could be the benefit of this technology. Lower cost, less environmental imprint, less geopolitical issues and less social implications could be perfect for ISR. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au . About Samso