Jim sent me an e-mail to help me understand more about what will be going on at Hay Mtn. Here's what he wrote:

Tracy,

We have just finalized our technical drill plan including GIS maps. Drilling permit applications are currently in process.

I think we discussed this in a prior NR. We are currently honing our planning for the
State Land in order to mitigate any surface disturbance to the lowest level with current available technology.

The most recent (and I believe the last) conference call with our drill contractor was late yesterday afternoon. Our current application will call for the use of the following:

1.Expanding our drill grid to 400 meters on a square pattern (from 200 meters) and using deviated drilling (directional drilling) to drill holes out from the mother holes which will give us information at up to 200 meters out from the mother hole. This will decrease the amount of disturbance of the ground by minimizing the surface drill sites, and drilling from the central mother hole. This will also save us millions of dollars in drilling costs by not penetrating the surface but only where values may be intersected.
2.We are using a tracked drill – with rubber tracks that put less pressure on the ground surface (4.8 pounds per square inch) than a human would in walking over the drill site.
3.Rather than trucking water to the drill site with very heavy (10 to 16 tons of water per truck load) we will pipe water to the drill sites to be used as needed for drilling.
4. We will use a very recently developed Solids Recovery Unit (SRU) which uses a centrefuge to clean the drill fluid before pumping it down into the hole again. This reduces the foot print of the drill site (pad) and negates the use of a traditional mud sump pit. Drill cuttings are automatically bagged and will be disposed in a land fill after drying.
5.Personnel will be transported in a rubber tracked ATV with 4 passenger capacity along with space for tools and consumables. This also has an impact of less than a human foot. Normal pickup trucks will only traverse main roads, or be equipped with rubber tracks as the need may arise.

Thus we will have minimal impact on soil and vegetation. Revegetation with appropriate grass seed after drill hole completion will leave the drill hole site as good as or better than its original condition.

Jim