yqr, air of competence. A VSE company? That will be the day. I don't know ONE VSE company that has any competence, let alone the air of it. I figure, diamet has some competence yet I have seen them blow it big time in Arizona geologically, and Yemen politically. Thomas and Thomas, the hotty eire, and fadah, ABZ have some semi political competence and geo comp, but could not raise the biggie money with the Debeers whispers about diamonds into the airhead broker trade.
Don't get me wrong. there are some good geos out there, and some good promoters, and some good mine people. All under one roof and roaring and raring. Call me.
Some people get good claims, and know a thing or two about mining, but cannot raise med scale money, nor can give the air of gravitas, or honesty in dealings. Wolfden a case in point.
Everyone tells me that wheaton river is a good company, mine that stops and starts, so so revenue. The aren't bad but are they good?
Mosquito Creek was a good small mine. 50 tons a day, high sulfide, 1/2 ounce per ton. My former geo prof used to manage it. He tried to hire me for assayer cause his assayer could not handle high sulfides. Can you imagine? And they could not afford to slash the shaft and install more hoisting capacity on a 500 foot shaft. And their sulfide recovery was low and expensive. Didn't have to be. But a problem solved in 1895 defeats miners today. What is the answer, roast, nitrate, or autoclave? So they grind and grind and lose cyanide and gold. Mosquito was bought out by Hecla and closed indefinitely. That makes sense,
So now Mosquito is part of Wayside who want to endlessly raise money for a biggie open pit that is "no problem". Ok. But Mossie could work on its own with good gold engineering. The way I see it, that is all that is lacking in 90% of operations. Too many miners who don't know squat and engineers who can't see the forest for the recovery trees.
What is the answer? Well, I figure nitrates in some cases where a con could be made. In others roasting is the way to go. Why roast? Because autoclaves are expensive, roasting provides energy, and the off gas can be abated 100% by two or three means that are well known. Costs are not that high. A Professor I know who designs abatement plants told me that a 1000 ton a day roaster and abatement stack could be built for ten million or less. A 500 ton a day sulfide ore that is 20% pyrite needs a 100 ton per day roaster for 2 million. It is exothermic so that is the energy from 100 tons per day of coal as co-gen payback for calculation purposes. 40 pounds of coal provides one horsepower per hour. 100 tons gives back 49,000 HP over 24 hours. That is will run your ball mill gratis for sure. And get 50% more gold out for less cost than grind and cyanide.
Seems like a no brainer.
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