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Gold/Mining/Energy : True North Gems Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Martin Wormser who wrote (281)11/8/2005 11:45:42 PM
From: seventh_son  Respond to of 1016
 
> 7th, Do you have a regular job? You sure do spend a lot of > time on the BB's.

Actually I am retired, Martin. I have a large position in TGX, so I consider it worth my time to follow it carefully, and hope that others are following it also and get as excited as me when they learn about the coloured gem market and its possibilities.

> Appreciate your input. Seems like we are going to wait at
> least 3-5 more years for any kind of production.

Well, it depends upon how helpful the Greenland authorities are and how aggressive TGX is. As far as mines go, I think that the rubies would have a pretty low degree of complexity in an accomodating regulatory environment with little or no vegetation or wildlife to impact. The quarrying type mining that it looks like they would be doing at Siggartartulik or The Tooth seems very scaleable and straight-forward and I can't see anywhere near the kind of capex you would expect with a metals or diamond mine.

1) Cut the rock (conventional quarry technology)
2) Crush the rock (conventional diamond extraction technology)
3) Move the rock to a wash plant (conventional conveyor belt and/or gondola technology)
4) Wash, DMS, and optical sorting (proven technology)
5) Heat treat the stones (if applicable) and send for cutting

I think that everyone assumes that it would take 3-5 years because it does for the typical massive tonnage, low value per tonne mines that most are familiar with. The field season is not truly limited like it is in Baffin or the Yukon because the coastal weather is not nearly as extreme. Personally I think that a well-funded, aggressive company could get it done sooner, but that is just my opinion.

My hope is that they will get to work early drilling and sampling then either significantly raise the share price based on results to speed up financing and investment in the properties, or get a JV partner to help out. When you look at the Ekati mine (studies began in 1993, mine opened in 1998), all aspects were massive and complex but work was done at a feverish pace -- if someone put that kind of effort into Fiskenaesset, there could be a mine or mines in a couple of years IMO.