Hi VT,
Here are some negatives but in regards to the negatives I believe they are improving in all of them.
1.They way over promised and under delivered. Fix:They are being more conservative in their announcements and forecasts.
2.They have an acute high cost labor and a shortage of that. Fix:They hired about 65 contract miners that I understand are the cream. They are educated their workers and letting go of the ones that do not follow the mining practices layed out by Mark Hartman.
3.They over promised what their resource would in their latest report by a wide margin. In their defense they rejiggered the numbers that were produced by CDE and which CDE "may" have overstated in their block model.FIX: The resource came in less than what was "rumored" but it is accurate. They have hired additional geologists to log core and go after the sweet spots.Their drilling continues to hit very high grade.
4.They said the Galena shaft repair would be finished by now.
The Galena shaft repair will be completed to the 2800 level shaft station in June and should be completed to the 3200 level as scheduled before the end of the year. As anticipated, one of the more difficult repair sections of the shaft above the 2800 level has already been completed without interruption. Once the entire 800-foot section is completed, the Galena shaft repair will provide improved hoisting capability, ventilation, and services into the Galena mine.>
Fix:They should be finished by year end and they are doing a first rate job. As far as I know it is 100% concrete lined and up to snuff in all respects. They say better haulage etc. but I believe and am not sure but I think this may give them access to the Caladay. The Caladay has much wider widths and is amenable to mechanical mining. Could up production in a big way.
<Over the last several months, the Company's personnel have been reviewing historic records on the Caladay property, which adjoins the producing Galena Mine to the east. The Caladay shaft lies approximately 7,300 feet southeast of the Galena mine's, No.3 Shaft. The two mines are interconnected on the 4900 foot level of the Galena mine
In the early 1980's, a joint venture between Day Mines, Callahan Mining, and ASARCO spent approximately $32.5 million (about $80.0 million in 2006 dollars) on the Caladay property to construct surface facilities, a 5,100 foot deep shaft, and associated underground workings to explore the property.
The historical underground exploration program undertaken in the late 1980's included 94 drill holes and identified a zone of silver-lead mineralization. There is a significant historical resource in this zone based on the 94 drill holes which is not currently 43-101 compliant. This historical drill program was designed to extend the "Silver Belt" of the Coeur d'Alene District further east by delineating the down plunge extensions from the Galena mine. Exploration though was curtailed in 1989 due to the softening of the silver and metals markets. As a result, exploration on the property remains incomplete. The Company has begun a new geologic evaluation of the historic data and has identified a large zone of apparent mineralization. This zone may extend into the Galena mine, as evidenced by historic drilling within the Galena mine. As the new geologic model develops, exploration and development activities could commence later in 2008.
In light of current metal prices, apparent widths and continuity of discovered mineralization, and the proximity of the Caladay property to the Galena and Coeur mines, the Company is encouraged about the future potential of the property. In addition, the Caladay facilities benefit the Galena mine operations through improved ventilation, possible additional ore and waste hoisting capacity, and as a potential secondary escape way.
About 40 of the diamond drill holes delineated an interesting zone of silver-lead mineralization. Diamond drill holes containing mineralization are on 50 to 150 foot centers and occur over a vertical distance of 400 to 500 feet. The mineralized zone is open at depth and to the east with favorable rock types projected in both directions. Two types of mineralization are seen in Caladay drill holes - disseminated silver-lead, and high-grade tetrahedrite (silver-copper) veins. Typical selected intercepts are listed in Table 1. Drill hole data listed in Table 1 are down hole lengths. The true thickness of the mineralized zone cannot be estimated until further geologic interpretation is completed. Callahan Mining Company, the operator of the project in the 1980's, calculated a polygonal resource estimate based on the exploration drill holes as summarized in Table 2.>
Table 1. Selected diamond drill hole intercepts at the Caladay project
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Drill Hole From (feet) To (feet) Width (feet) opt Ag Pb %
--------------------------------------------------------------------
49-50 452.0 520.0 68.0 8.30 13.47
--------------------------------------------------------------------
49-53 368.5 394.0 25.5 5.02 5.67
--------------------------------------------------------------------
49-26 807.3 837.0 29.7 5.75 8.13
--------------------------------------------------------------------
49-59 392.0 491.4 99.4 4.28 5.11
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Others like Alpha Romero has a great insight into USA I hope he adds to this.
Tom |
