sh, I think that what we are involved in is the next era in PM mining and no one property is going to necessarily have a monopoly once any one of them proves economic recovery and substantial reserves. So, go Naxos, Maxam, IPM and the lot. We will all benefit in the aftermath.
However, as far as strictly paper and math comparisons, I personally believe that Naxos will prove up the 3 opt of gold PLUS the platinum and palladium and silver, etc. and when all the PM's that come out of each ton of material are added up and divided into the cost per ton to process (which I understand to be estimated around $150 per ton) the cost per ounce will likely be under $20. There inlies the competitive advantage that will discourage significantly smaller deposits of the DD's bothering to come on line.
If FL proves up even 25% of the ore body size that we have heard from long ago (about 2 billion tons of ore) , and the PM's per ton which I outlined above, it will drawf any other mining operation anywhere for any one of those metals and no one will be able to come close, at least among properties known to date, to the cost per ounce for recovery.
In other words, once this type of deposit, whoever proves it up, shows a newer, cheaper, better, cleaner, quicker way to get PM's from the earth, the bar will have been raised on basic requirements for new PM exploration. ie. minimum deposit estimates, minimum opt estimates, etc.
That will begin the search for similar or larger ore bodies, which also have easy access, no overburden, a proven method of recovery and on and on.
Again, I hope that all the DD's can benefit from this next era in PM mining, but just as the Middle East made Texas oil irrelevant to a great degree, an unusually large PM deposit with unusually low recovery costs could very well do the same for PM mining to one degree or another.
Will that seem fair to people who have worked very hard for a long time on smaller deposits with the same diligence and effort as those working on larger deposits? All is not fair in the developement of natural resources, it just is what it is. Nature and science don't pick sides.
Regards,
Tom F. |
