Why So Slow, Labs?
There are few things explorers like better than getting results back from the laboratory. It’s like Christmas! After months or even years of work – securing land access, permission to drill, deciding where to position the hole, possible drilling issues or delays, sending core samples to the lab for analysis* – finally, the results arrive!
Assay results are crucial for keeping junior explorers afloat. Releasing news of a strong drill intercept can attract new investment dollars for more exploration work. (Poor results, on the other hand, are filed away as lessons learned and exploration quietly continues.) For better for worse, it’s all part of the rollercoaster of investing in explorers.
But right now, Christmas is not coming fast enough, or at all, for many explorers. Geochemistry labs are seriously backed up and explorers are experiencing delays between submitting samples and receiving results (know in the business as TAT or turn around time) that are much longer than usual – like three months instead of six weeks.
It’s Not Working – For Anyone
Normally, labs can turn samples around in about six weeks. The time span from finishing the drill hole to releasing results is a bit more complicated than
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