It was my third year in a row, visiting the Kodiak booth at the SF Show. This year was quite different. First of all, nothing big gets announced at the show it is usually after Thanksgiving, markets are thin trading. Why waste good news. This year the conference was moved up a weekend to before Thanksgiving.

Many companies are waiting for lab results.

Bill Chornobay wasn't there, he's fullup with meetings. There was no geo at the booth, instead of receiving a briefing by Trevor Bremner, there was only his voice, as the Golden Mile video played continuously. IR staffed the booth. Core and channel samples were front and center with a magnifying glass to better see the visible gold. The mag map with the geophysics overlay was enlarged and IR used it to talk to. VP Maher was probably at the booth at times, but he was in meetings when I came by.

At other booths Kodiak came up in the conversation.

The presentation was at 3:30 in the same room as last year. Last year it was half full, with KXL stockholders. This year it was very full. A lot wore suits - different than last year's group. The person next to me had come from Toronto.

VP Maher reminds me of one of my good friends.

The Hercules presentation from the web was given. I took a page of notes. They follow.

The land packge. Brian said 1400 square km. It is 150 km wide. Geraldton, once the east end of the region is now in the middle. The staking was huge. Many of the acquisitions and the JV were done before the Golden Mile was announced.

The grades. Average greenstone belt grades are 11 grams. You can very profitably mine those grades. We're higher than that. The grades from metallic assay and fire assay are very consistent, the variance is about 10%.

The 360 meter section of the Golden Mile with channel samples every 40 meters had additional channel samples done every 10 meters. The purpose was to further test the continuity of the mineralization, the results were more of the same. Very positive.

We have to put Hercules exploration in perspective. What is now called the Golden Mile was discovered August 14. Prospector Ray Kovisto said this is it, we're going. He lead three assistants and the backhoe on the discovery. It is quite extraordinary. For this type of mineralization, the length and width of the Golden Mile are far greater than what has been seen.

New Veins. There is a 1km space between the Golden Mile and the Yellow Brick Road. From the road seven veins have been identified, they appear to extend off parrallel to the Golden Mile. (That got a murmur from the room). The widths of these veins is .5-4.0 meters.

Technical staff. It is rare to have fulltime geophyics staff. Kodiak has two. A geophysicist from Australia and a fulltime computer data specialist.

Golden Honeycomb. The overlay of the geophysical interpretation over the magnetics map of the Elmhirst Intrusion was a forced march, working over the weekend to get it done. Then they handed it to the prospectors. The fact that they could take the map, go to the opposite end of the intrusion and find the Golden Gate vindicates their methodology and interpretation of the data.

Golden Gate. They stripped 40 meters before weather forced them to stop. Did they find visible gold? The prospectors argue between themselves over whether they did.

Secret Sauce. Why is Kodiak finding this. The difference is that Kodiak recognized that granitic host rock was important for this mineralization.

A gold district. Brian said big companies are born from districts. The towns of Beardmore and Geraldton are towns of prospectors. It required someone to negotiate with each of these many parties to consolidate their claims. It was necessary. Assembling the district is an idea Brian championed. Trevor integrates various databases with the magnetic interpretation map. They have found historical samples on the far eastern end of the district comparable to those found at Hercules. pg. 33  At Miron there was a historical bulk sample taken with comparable grades! pg. 27 Brian was grinning like the Cheshire cat. He spoke warmly and positively of SGX and ATV. I asked about the Bearskin Lake acquisition, is the nearby Cote-801 of ATV interesting.  "Yes.", Brian  beamed. Then I asked if he'd interested in SHL's Nora Lake. Again, with a beaming grin Brian said yes.

Depth. On the Golden Mile, they've drilled above and below the two holes shown intersecting the vein in the presentation (pg. 12). They have intersected the vein with new drilling at a depth of 150m. Brian gave Kirkland as the example that fits Golden Mile. They've mined to 6000 ft. It is not thathe mineralization runs out, it is the physics - pressure and heat - that limit going deeper.

High grade. Using the Golden Mile channel sample results, Brian explained how to think about the veins and their mining potential. Within the 3meter wide results will be a sample about a meter wide with 28-34g results. He then compares that with high grade vein miner Hochschild. Their average vein width is .92 meters. You can mine the veins at Hercules and East Leitch. Hochschlid's average cost is $38/ton. Comparable costs would be less than $150 in Ontario - ballpark, off-the-cuff.

Results. By the end of the month they expect more results and fire assay results. Into the new year will be the next results.

Future. 60,000 meter drill program for 2008. $5 million for Otish exploration. $5million for Ni-Cu division M&A. Next field exploration season, Three prospecting crews will work A crew consists of a prospector, three assistants and a backhoe. The three crews will  explore the Golden Honeycomb. Drilling should have tested the vein to the 400-500 meter depth by May.