Excellent article. I agree with you that Winspear will not have a detrimental effect on the high grade chunker diamond market. While I predict and hope that Winspear will have a very valuable and profitable resource, in the great scheme of things it is unlikely to flood that market.
On the issue of the length of time to develop, I think that it might move very quickly. I think that it was Einstein who theorized that time is relative to speed in the great world of physics.
My observations are that in the business, mining, and political world--time is relative to profits, jobs, tax revenue and social development. A rich deposit seems to accelerate time schedules and a marginal deposit will develop at a snails pace.
A rich deposit is very close to being proven and the size of the deposit will be roughly determined by next spring. The blueprint for a northern mine development, complete with town, sewage disposal, tailings disposal, etc. already exists apparently to the satisfaction of all concerned parties. There will be some new wrinkles as there always are but I believe that Winspear will be fast tracked by all concerned.
The first diamond mine took a long time because it was the first and there were many disbelievers and foot draggers. But the paychecks are being printed, taxes collected, and the money is flowing. No one can argue with that--well you can, but at your own peril--just watch the steam roller coming and get the heck out of the way.
If you have watched things develop in the oil patch when things are happening you might see a small town set up over a weekend. The problem often is to slow things down to make sure it is done right.
There is one mantra which works everytime for Canadian politicians and that is "jobs, jobs, jobs". And when you get the politicians pushing for development, the shareholders pushing for development and the local population chanting for jobs, many things are possible.
Winspear can start with an easily accessible open pit to get the ball rolling which is a very big plus. The plant and the town can be built very quickly. I see no reason for a multi year gestation period. This mine should not take much longer to develop than M1 pipe of SUF's in South Africa. The climate is a little tougher and the road is a little rougher but these are not problems which we do not know how to either solve or live with. Cheers. |
