Fat lot you know about this. In the stone age it was done the way you describe it, rooms of accountants, quill pens, green eyeshades etc. Now all data about mill costs etc is all updated in a timely manner, and at the same time all the drill data is entered into all modelling situations, including mill feasibility studies. They know as they go where infill drilling is needed, and this whole up to date data scenario is why Barrick leads the pack. I note you are down to 9 months from 2 years, you muat be aware of this. The full feasibility study can be done in three months or less after last data is inputted, and a general scenario can be prepared in days, if to the penny data not needed. Since Barrick has all funding at hand for any operation, the time consumed in this phaes will not be great.(unless they find data holes and need to suddenly drill 20 more holes, then some delay, but this deposit has enough continuity to not need 1400 holes to prove 1.3M, we got over 4M with around 60 counting historical holes, we now have twic that and counting.) as no banks need to be massaged with comprehensive data to coax them into lending. The need to satisfy OSC/VSE etc regls, and other penguins is minimal as they will be considering internal corporate matters and not floating any paper, and such will be a straightforward l procedure.
In addition, there are levels of feasibility studies, preliminary, which PFG has passed and some later levels we have also passed, as every time B made a payment and started a drill program we passed one of these levels of feasibility within Barrick and entirely their private data. The model gets refined with each drill hole entered. A bulk sample is also redundant as the chemistry of the deposit is well known and the verdict was strongly positive(easy to mine, cheap to mill, high ratio of gold extracted, and low cost per ounce of gold refined. Read the history, already answered questions. Some feasibilities, like PFG, can be done on the back of one piece of paper, with the prior data at hand. This will give a quick yes/no decision. Many mines are like that. Some are marginal, and take detailed proceedures as they are low grade, deep, hard rock, on Mars(like you), and may not make it, and some are in between. PFG is not in between, it is not marginal, or negative. It is already feasible to build and operate a mine there, since Nov, 1996. It is getting better and better every day.
I agree with you on Crystallex, it should pop soon, and 2-4 times is reasonable for the ratio, but when?? |
