Your Geologist is Lying to you

Your Geologist is lying to you. (And it’s costing you funding).

I reject 90% of the mining deals that land on my desk for one simple reason:

The data is a sales pitch, not a technical reality.

Too many Junior Miners believe that a Mining Right is a blank check. They think a permit is the asset. It isn’t. The asset is what is under the ground.

And the only way I know what is under the ground is your Competent Person's Report (CPR) or Scoping Study.

This is the "Puffed Up" CPR Problem that I see constantly - a geologist knows the entrepreneur is desperate for funding. So, instead of writing a neutral, scientific report, they write a marketing brochure mixed with some semblance of technical data, then absolve themselves from the shortcomings we are bound to find, with a disclaimer and indemnity note that goes like this - "this document is based on limited data provided by.. blah blah blah .. and it is not meant to be used to source investment blah blah blah etc.."

> They overstate the resource grade or issue vague statemets around this and the resource quantity.

> They ignore the obvious geological intrusions or dykes.

> They gloss over the metallurgy challenges (e.g., "It's just coal," ignoring that it's high-phosphorus coal that no one buys).

Here is the hard truth: A CPR is not a pitch deck. It is a technical confession.

If your geologist hides the risks to help you "secure investment," they are actually ensuring you get rejected.

> We will do our own due diligence.

> We will drill our own confirmation holes.

> When we find the discrepancy (and we do, most of the time), the deal dies instantly. Not because the mine is bad, but because the trust is gone.

What I look for:

(a) Don't just bring me a Permit. Bring also a credible Resource Statement.

(b) Don't bring me "Blue Sky." Bring me a Scoping Study that admits the faults, the water issues, and the difficult overburden.

I would rather fund a difficult mine with honest data than a "perfect" mine with a fake report. With a difficult mine we get to define the risks, and then design mitigation strategies so that we are not caught by surpise by otherwise something that ought to have been disclosed and then prepared for.

To the Geologists: Your signature is your reputation. Don't sell it for a consulting fee. To the Entrepreneurs: You can't mine a lie. Trust in business is everything.