cedar and mz,

Nice replies- thanks. I agree that the financial climate has changed, and that a 43-101, though maybe not necessary for a deal w/ a major, certainly increases the options, including financing from outside the industry. I think Kodiak already has a good idea what they have WRT the GM, and much of Hercules, at least in the parts that they have drilled. The deposits seem pretty consistent, so infill drilling is pretty much solely for the 43-101. I'd like to see more drilling to extend the deposits.

I still have trouble with so much time, money and effort going into looking for new deposits. At some point you have to prove up a mineable deposit, either by delineating a large low or medium grade deposit or hitting the lottery and finding the motherlode. Hercules is already well on the way to being economic, and finding the motherlode is always a possibility- and more likely as the geology is increasingly understood. With a new site, they are starting from scratch, so they are depending on finding the motherlode- defining a large lesser grade deposit would take years to catch up w/ Hercules- and they only have so much time and cash before massive dilution is required. It's like the lottery- at a new site they are trying to hit the Powerball from scratch, but at Hercules they have already hit the $1M lottery with their first few numbers, and only need a few more to hit the Powerball.