Historical Data

Historical data related to the deposit or adjacent former producing mines is a good starting point. The company may draw from this source to inform its early exploration targets and begin releasing updates in Press releases. Once sufficient data has been compiled a Technical Report may be released to prove the viability of the deposit.

Past exploration work on a property can include soil sampling, geophysical surveys, assay results, and drill core samples. In most cases the work will not be recent enough or have met contemporary reporting standards and will need to be verified again. Historical data can be extremely valuable or next to worthless depending on its quality and relevance.

If the historical data includes drill holes, the company will in most cases need to verify the results again. This can be done through twinning, by drilling holes next to old ones. Resource Estimates will reference historical data where applicable.

Historical data presents a challenge for valuation. When the company acquires the project the transaction price is assumed to include the cumulative value of historical data. When making comparisons between companies this is relevant for Appraised Value method.