Indeed, this is an exciting new aspect to the Hay Mountain program.  Please note, however, that while trenching is usually something that preceeds drilling, there is nothing in the wording of this news to suggest that that will happen in this case.  Were I on the BOD, I would suggest doing both concurrently.  If that is the plan, nothing changes in terms of timing for drilling.

I feel this way because poor return on trenching could discourage development of funds for drilling, even while returns from trenching may have no relationship to what can be found from drilling below the 200-300 feet level.

However, I would feel differently if I HAD TO recognize that developing the funds for drilling was a complete failure.

In short, and in my opinion, nothing changes, except that under the very best best of all possibilities production from surface mining may begin long before deeper ores can be extracted, taking years off of the develoment process. 

...just adding my two cents (or is that 1,250 shares?).