Lets just consider a few simple concepts on what the exploration potential is for Hercules. These vein systems that have been outlined at surface probably are mesothermal in origin. They probably go on to great depths and the deposits were formed as fluids percolated through cracks in the rocks and precipitated the metals out into the rock walls. Now the question has been raised, how do we know that the near surface stuff is not all there is to find?

We know from studying other similar systems that the probability is for much greater extent to these systems. It is unlikely that the effects of glaciation and erosion have scraped most of the deposit away and left just the last part of it in place that sits near surface.

The challenge is that the fluids in the system did not flow at uniform rates and with consistant levels of metals. Just drive by a rock cut at the edge of a highway and note how water flows out of cracks. Some cracks have a steady flow of water, and some just a trickle. Now imagine that going on for tens of thousands of years and you can see why some parts of a vein may be enriched, and others barely mineralized.

The outcrop at the Wilkinson Lake zone is a good example. There is a clearly visible shear zone extenting laterally along the vein, where the rock is intensely fractured because of an active fault zone. Imagine a flow of mineralized fluids injected in this fault, working its way towards the surface, where it encounters this fractured shear zone. The presure drops, the fluids boil away, and the metal is emplaced into the rock. Then the fault slips and the rocks on either side grind against each other, shattering everything all to hell again. More fluids seep in, an again more metals are emplaced. This goes on for thousands of years, and you get a wide, high grade vein structure.

The same intrusion that injects the fluids into the rock also buckles the rock and creates smaller fractures. These also allow fluids to seep in and again, you have metals that come out of solution to form deposits that fill the cracks and fissures. Some cracks are much larger than others and you will get a range of vein widths. Some have more fluid injected or higher disolved metals content due to varying pH, and therefore you get variance in width and grade. Some veins become sealed with quartz and no further enrichment occurs. There are all kinds of processes at work, and mother nature will create a wide range of mineralization as a result.

What are the odds that the little bit of that property that has been explored so far will represent the entire inventory of mineralization on the property?

Consider this illustration: put a paint brush in a can of paint and then walk with the brush in your hand. The paint will drip off the brush and leave drops on the ground. The further you walk, the less paint that drips off. Repeat it several times and see what happens. The closer to the source (paint can) the more intense the dripping paint is distributed.

Now go back to the assumption that the veins are mesothermal. The further away from the hotspot, both to depth and laterally, the lower the grades of the deposit. Again, what are the odds that the few zones we have already encountered near surface will prove to be the highest grade areas within the closest proximity to the source of the deposits?

KXL is going to go through ups and downs with the sector, but none of that will matter in terms of the long term potential. If the geos can produce a high grade zone, multi-ounce per tonne, across several meters and extending for several hundred meters of vein, then its game on.

The part of the system we are working right now could just be that distal mineralization that is furthest from the paint can. That is why I am happy to hold my KXL.

cheers!

mike

Voluntary disclosure: I am not a geologist. I am not unbiased. This is not advice.