Hi Tau!

The average vein width of 80 cm will be too narrow to mine efficiently. That does not mean it cannot be mined, but if an operator really knows what they are doing, they could probably extract just 1m width in the blasting underground. For processing, they would extract that interval first, and then blast and muck out another meter or two as waste rock on either side to allow room for advancing the workings and operating heavy equipment. So your 80cm ore zone would thus be diluted by about 25-30% in grade from the waste rock that is blasted out with it before it is shipped to the mill.

But again, remember that the veins are several meters wide at some points and therefore its all gravy. And they do not have to mine everything. They can bypass the narrow zones, just advancing the drifting along until they reach another wider interval and mining there. Also, we do not know for sure that where the vein is measured as just 80cm, on either side it could easily swell to a meter or more within a very close proximity. There is a randomness to the drilling that almost makes it the luck of the draw whether you hit a fat zone or a thin vein interval.

When the time comes to consider a mining scenario, KXL will have to do a bulk test mine by driving a shallow decline ramp into the ore body, and extracting a few thousand tonnes. This will give them the real exposure to the veins that could prove up for them how a larger mine will perform. It is probably a few years from that point right now though.

For now, I am happy if KXL continues to expand the known areas of mineralization and we continue to intersect higher grade sections as part of that work.

cheers!

mike