Thread on why this happens and what can be improved ⁉️
2/x
So are mineral deposits more rare than oil deposits?
Oil fields and mineral deposits are widely distributed across different continents and occur in variety of geological settings.
It's difficult to explain success rate with distribution.
3/x
Cost of drilling:
25 MUSD for 2-3km deep oil well in shallow water
vs
0.25 MUSD for 500 m deep mining drill hole
Interestingly oil well is 100x more expensive.
4/x
Oil explorers get to test a lot less geology through drill bit - the cost is simply too high.
Oil industry developed several processes 📐as well as technologies🛰️ to increase the success rate. In this post we will focus on processes as their cheap to implement in mining.
5/x
Processes leading to higher success rates in oil & gas exploration:
1. Probability of success is assessed for each prospect in a systematic fashion. 2. Only prospects with the highest success rates get tested through the drill bit. 3. 99% of ideas/leads never get tested.
6/x 4. Oil explorers do "post mortem" analysis and try to learn from dry holes.
This is in a stark contrast to mining industry where in a bull market up to 50% of portfolio gets drilled and there is no rigorous workflows for the prospect assessment pre-drill and post-dril.
7/x
Exploration geologists in oil industry are using Monte Carlo analysis on a daily basis.
This forces geologist to think in a probabilistic manner and describe geology in a form of distributions.
Mining exploration currently does not utilise probabilistic thinking. ❗️
8/x
As someone who worked across both industries (mining and oil & gas).
I see that: 1) establishing consistent workflows for prospects 2) assessing prospect probability of success 3) active portfolio management
could have big impact on exploration success rates in mining.
9/x
These are cheap methods to apply and a lot of tools are already available on the market.
Investors could benefit significantly by understanding prospect risks before investing.
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1/x Geophysics is a powerful tool in mineral exploration, but many investors and geologists struggle to interpret its results.
🧵Here's a simplified explanation of how it works:
2/x Geophysics is the only tool that allows us to see below the surface of the Earth. With seismic and tomography methods, we can peer tens to hundreds of kilometers deep.
Check out the example of tomography imaging below 😲.
3/x In mineral exploration, higher-resolution methods are required. Magnetics, gravity, electro-magnetics, and IP are some of the most commonly used techniques - you've probably seen them all in junior companies NSRs.
But what do they measure? And how can we use them?
Over the last years, we have actively speculated in #exploration sector.
Our approach has changed over time.
One of our strategies is to participate early on in discoveries.
🧵👇Tips on how to do it below.
Step #1: Stay up to date with exploration results announcements EVERY day.
For us #ASX and #TSX takes 10-20 min per day.
Success here comes down to:
• Know what you look for e.g. 20m @ 3% Cu
• Do not get distracted by noise
• You get faster over time
• Automate 😍
Step #1 cont.: Why EVERY day?
We missed the good announcements before. Most of the days nothing happens, but you do not want to miss the 200% move.
1/6 Most of the new #discovery announcements and good first holes ends up as a minor discovery.
How to spot significant discoveries as an investor?
2/6 Three steps to follow🪜:
1) Study significant discoveries 2) Study the failed discoveries 2) Learn the essentials of geology
Let's dig in.
3/6 Do the following:
• Select commodity of interest e.g. #copper#nickel#uranium#gold
• Study top discoveries made in the last years
• Look at announcements (grades, footprint, structures, geophysical anomalies etc.)
• Put it into a system