As Evan said, your questions have already been discussed and answered numerous times.

They can drill in the Sinker, but are awaiting permits. After the Hecla problems elsewhere in Idaho, MSHA cracked down and required more and more work to be done. They will have to expand the tunnel at the point they want to drill- no biggie.

"Most of the historical claims are either not in their name or only partially owned"

Where did you get this from? SFMI has rights to the historical claims leased from GHDC. As far as "most" of the historical claims being only partially owned, look in any major filing and you'll find the following:

"GoldLand Holdings, Co. (“GoldLand”) acquired an interest in 174.82 acres of land on War Eagle Mountain in Idaho, consisting of a 100% interest in 103 acres, and a 29.166% interest in 71.82 acres."

Since when is 72 out of 174 acres "most"? And there is somehting like another couple thousand acres claimed by SFMI based on geological examination by RS et al.

As far as whether or not drilling is a "sure thing", have you been paying attention at all? The major veins can be traced on the surface for miles, and averaged over 2.5 oz/t during the active mining period, which stopped because of a financial crisis, not because the gold had been exhausted. Look through any of the historical documentation, or the recent report from the State of Idaho Geological Survey and you'll see that these veins are wide, consistent, extensive, deep, and maintain their robustness at least down to Sinker level, which intersects the major WEM veins, as well as other veins reportedly newly identified by RS. All of this information is readily available, such as by clicking on the links on this board. No excuse for not knowing it. So if they can actually see the veins, and have studied their geology and directionality, do you really think they'll have a problem intersecting them with the drill bit?