Panamax,

Your explanation is how I understood the project. Most deposits are limited to a small area whereas Novo is attempting to demonstrate the deposit across a larger one. They need to drill as fast as they can using the cheapest method and I believe the strategy they are employing is correct. But have to make sure they are following the plan.

RE: the market isn't in favor for any exploration / development companies. Due to economic policy that isn't conducive to the real economy, companies with zero cash flow will continue to have a difficult time increasing the value of their shares. Even though it seems counter-intuitive, gold should be moving up with all the devaluation around the world. However, it will not because the money is being used to retire bad debt. Plain and simple. We are currently near the 2-year anniversary of the bear market in exploration stocks. The environment is terrible and probably will continue to be, albeit we may be due for a correction to the upside. I actually think it is a miracle that Novo has held up at this level as I expected a more serious correction on the private placement news. One nice thing to take away is that they have cash and can continue to drill for 2013 and continue to expand the zone. I expect the stock price to not perform in the near term because the drills are shut down for the extreme summer temperatures in Australia.

I do think the gold market is due for a short-term correction on the upside, but do not know if this will affect exploration stocks. Intermediate term, the gold market has some serious hurdles to overcome. Long term, gold stilll looks good.