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Gold/Mining/Energy : Pacific North West Capital Corporation-PFN on Alberta -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: koan who wrote (1673)	5/29/2000 10:19:00 PM
From: hank2010	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2255

Koan, CIBC lent about a billion to Dome petroleum a few years ago and jeopardized their own survival for a while. What about Peggy Witte's company, how much did the banks lend her before the company went broke and left the bank holding the bag? I obviously have a different opinion than the bankers about the economics, but banks can be wrong. I also think that bankers are like sheep. They climbed all over each other to lend money to the Dome Petes when oil was hot, they competed with each other to lend money to developing nations because everyone else was doing it, and then wrote off the loans over a number of years so that they wouldn't look like they were going broke.. And can I mention Bre-x,a classic sheep play. Everybody was so busy singing the praises that nobody questioned the basics. You mention Zortman/Landusky. In the same area (Montana) Placer Dome has the Golden Sunlight mine that has never made money. Open pit, but they have to mill. Their grade is .055 oz/ton(1.89 grams per tonne). Placer Dome is going to have to pay the bank for that one also (about 80 million I heard). Remember with Pd/Pt your recovery is only going to be in the 80% range compared to +95% for most gold mills (not heapleach). And remember that in Northern Ontario you have rock with hardness in the 20,000 to 60,000psi compared to about 8,000 to 12,000 in Montana. That not only drives up your grinding costs but also drilling, blasting and wear (maintenance) costs. With gold you can produce your dore on site by either electroplating on steel wool or precipitating with zinc dust, and then firing it and sell for 1% less than the London fix. With Pd/PT you have to sell your concentrate to a smelter. My knowledge of dealing with smelters is that they will deduct the first ounce of precious metals "for smelting losses" and then only pay you for a percentage of the contained precious metals, then charge you for smelting fees, then charge you for refining costs and refining losses.