"You can’t see the forest for the trees."
It’s an old cliché, but there’s something to it.
It is easy to get lost in detail, to forget about the bigger picture.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s in the detail where the most exciting data often reveals itself. It’s why we spend so much time and energy analysing the information we gather from the various surveys we carry out across our projects.
But sometimes, when you spend so much time zoomed in, you forget to zoom out too.
You forget to take in the wonder of the forest, having become so distracted by how attractive the trees are.
At our various projects across the Kalahari Copper Belt, there’s been so much data flying around the place that I feel this has happened a little.
Be clear: exploration lives and dies on making discoveries.
And making discoveries all comes down to finding hard evidence in the ground. That’s why you focus so much on the detail.
But the smart money is always ahead of the game. It sees things that little bit earlier. It takes a risk, sure, but why—what justifies that risk?
There are many factors. But I think one of the key ones is being able to see the bigger picture, being able to see the trees AND the forest.
There’s momentum building around the KCB
Right now, I think there’s a lot of trees to see in KCB.
Not literally. It’s pretty arid land. But as far as detail goes, there’s all manner of data coming out that is extremely encouraging.
Across the 12 licences we’ve got interest in in the region, and recent news has been very positive.
For example, the recent soil sampling at Mamuno looked to confirm the underlying geology we’d already mapped, suggesting the presence of anomalous copper.
Likewise, the same work confirmed two major drill targets at licence PL082/2018, where the red metal is interspersed along strike lengths of 8km and 27km.
As I write, we’re planning drill campaigns that could extremely significant.
But as I say, sometimes it pays to step back too.
It pays to look at the bigger picture.
Being on the ground in the KCB recently allowed me to see it myself. There’s a buzz there, things are moving, momentum is building.
We’re not the only company to realise the potential here.
Sandfire, Cobre, and Cupric Canyon are all in the region, too.
Why?
They also see the forest as well as the trees.
Indeed, competition for licences is fierce, which is why it’s so positive that we’ve got exposure to 12 in the area, covering a massive 5,257 sq km.
But zoom out again...
From the detail of what’s going on under the surface...
To the companies who see the potential…
To the fact that the demand for copper is only set to increase.
As Nathaniel Bullard writes in Bloomberg: "Demand for the metal used in solar panels, wind turbines and power lines will far outstrip supply."
He goes on…
"Copper is one of the essential elements of today’s economy, and tomorrow’s. It’s in the turbines and solar modules that generate electrons, the transmission and distribution lines that carry electricity to consumers, the home wiring that delivers it to dishwashers and iPhones, and the motors that move everything from elevators to electric bicycles.”
“I think of copper as a common carrier, so to speak, of decarbonization. It is literally the wiring that connects the present to the future."
That’s my emphasis.
Because it's an important point to remember. It's another reason why what's happening at the KCB is so exciting.
Bullard sites a research report carried out that suggests:
"Copper demand will increase by more than 50% between now and 2040."
That’s huge.
This is the forest. This is the bigger picture that our work at the KCB is playing into.
It’s why I’m so positive about our progress right now, why we’re pushing hard not just at the KCB but across our interests in Botswana where things are all moving in the right direction.
We’ll keep analysing the detail, learning what we can from the data...
But we’ll be keeping an eye on the bigger picture too. Because right now, it’s looking very interesting.