Thanks for the links Miskealp, now here's one not put on the board yet, least wise don't recall discussions of it.

From the white paper.

· Borehole neutron activation - real time in-situ assays

Now that we are doing directional drilling at Eagle One, would this not be a great supplemental tool to be used. I wonder how this system compares to the XRF analyzers?

Neutron activation
Many nuclear techniques commonly used in laboratories and
the oil and gas industry have been successfully adopted to
mineral exploration and mining applications. A review by
Killeen (1997) accurately summarizes the use of nuclear
borehole logging methods for ore grade estimation and
indicates that although the technology is suitable for mining
applications it is not yet widely used.
Progress in the past decade on borehole neutron activation,
specifically applied to hard rock environments, has been
promising. Inco has invested in the development of the first
pulsed neutron probe specifically for mining (King et al, 2006)
reporting that preliminary modeling and tests suggest the
possibility of quantitative in situ assays for elements such as
Ni, Cu, Fe, S, Cr, Mn, and Al with accuracies ranging from 1%
for major elements to 0.1% for minor elements such as Ni and
Cu.
As Killeen observed in Exploration ’97 one of the
disadvantages of borehole neutron activation is that the
instrumentation is “rather bulky” thus limiting the use of the
technology to large diameter boreholes, a fact that still holds
true to this day. If or when a production mode neutron
activation tool specifically designed for hard rock
environments becomes available, it’s most likely application
would be grade control from large diameter blast holes. It is
anticipated that the technology will improve over time leading
to relatively slim in-situ assay probes that could be applied to
mineral exploration.
According to King, cost savings could be achieved through
improved grade control and also reduced delineation drilling
cost through the use of non-cored drilling.
Figure 3: Neutron Activation logging system
In addition to modeling geochemical processes, other applications
are location of ore deposits and tracking of elements of
environmental importance. This has been highlighted from
collaborative research from universities, industries and
government such as predictive mineral discovery to vastly
improving the understanding of mineralized processes and
providing a fourth dimensional approach of evolution of the
geology. It is linking this type of information back to a common
earth model that links geochemical processes to the physical rock
properties and the measured geophysical data.

good stuff comes from digging!

Cheers