Mining and fishing are two of the oldest tasks/jobs done by mankind, and there are many similarities. You are trying to find something you can't see!

In the old days, lots of people fished in small boats with no electronic aids, similar to exploration. The people had more time, they looked around, collected and analyzed the info and developed a very good local knowledge, some times based on generations.

The areas they had to cover were at times huge, compared to the location of what they are looking for. When fishing for bottom fish at times there may only be a small area of about 100 m2 where the fish is biting depending on the tide. You would only find such areas by trial and error. Another problem is that you may be 1 km from land in open water, with no GPS; where are you?, plus the 3 to 5 knots tide, so your line does not go straight down and you are constantly drifiting, no easy task.

Today with fish finders, depth, and GPS we at times get too much info. You can see a lot, but what do you see, and does the fish bite? It still helps to have local knowledge

In exploration, you also may have to go deep, almost blind folded. In stead of your line not going straigth down, maybe your drill bit deviates one direction or another. With all modern gadgets you can "see" a lot, but what do you actually see? Still the operator(the geologist) should be an expert and also have good local knowledge of the region. How does this compare to what already is known?

I am happy to hear that the KXL team goes over lots of old records, this will help them 'calibrate' their modern gadgets to what actually has been found previously in the ground.

I am still long and holding, although at times it hurt, but this is like fishing. One day we will catch the big one! I knew of a older guy who did not even tell his own sons where he got a certain type of fish; he made good money but the location was never told, and that's the way he died.