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Gold/Mining/Energy : Naxos Resources (NAXOF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Richard Mazzarella who wrote (9830)3/12/1998 4:21:00 PM
From: Stoopid  Respond to of 20681
 
still trading...4:20pm EST 3 3/8 x 3 3/4 (SQS)



To: Richard Mazzarella who wrote (9830)3/12/1998 4:34:00 PM
From: Tom Frederick  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 20681
 
Mr. Mazzarella, the cost of extraction in this case will be much lower than most deposits. There are deposits in the Solomon islands that are not much higher OPT. They have to ship the equipment in, build roads, bring in electric, establish water sources, etc. Then any and all equipment needs supply needs must be sent by long haul ship to keep it going. Once they are there they have to remove trees, overburden, etc. just to get at the ore.

GPGI may indeed have shown the numbers you say, but how MUCH do they have? How much will it cost to get AT the ore? There has got to be a reason why this has not moved forward.

In the case of FL, there is no overburden at all. There are already roads into the property. Electric is there. Water is there. Equipment can be sent by truck from any number of U.S. sources. Heck, Vegas is 45 minutes away for the occasional break in the mining action.

Plus, when you can amortize the up front costs like buildings and hard equipment, all figured into recovery, into a 100 year property vs. a 10 or 20 year property. It all contributes to reducing costs.

But most important, this was ONLY GOLD. AND, it was standard lead fire assay which is the least affective assay in proving this ore. These numbers will get better and they will prove the PGM's as well. We know that from previous testing.

The new labs still need time to get up to speed just as Ledoux needed time.

AND, the recovery facility will be free to use the most efficient method of recovery, not any particular industry standard so long as they can spit out metal on the table. THAT is where we will see the real numbers.

That is how I see it at this point.

Regards,

Tom F.



To: Richard Mazzarella who wrote (9830)3/12/1998 5:16:00 PM
From: Kim W. Brasington  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 20681
 
Richard:

Freeport-McMoran's Grasberg deposit in Irian Jaya (old Dutch New Guinea) has 82+ million ounces of gold. Their recovery rate is .05 ounces/Au per ton along with 26 pounds of copper. Lihir island has 43 million ounces of gold with a recovery rate of .14 ounces of Au/ton. The deposit is a sulfide refractory (complex) one. Barrick has reserves of approximately 51 million ounces over various properties. I state all of the above to put these numbers that we have received today into context with other properties.

The Grasberg and Lihir had to have massive amounts of money expended on them to build an infrastructure to get at them. The Grasberg being on the dorsal spine of the jungle mountains running down the center of New Guinea. Lihir is a tropical rain forest island that is an extinct volcano - all port and recovery facilities had to be built "in situ". Contrast that with the proximity of Franklin Lake to the mining capital of the U.S. (Las Vegas) and a stripping ratio that appears to be "0", and Franklin Lake could be far more feasible infrastructure wise than either of the two largest gold deposits in the world - Grasberg and Lihir Island.

Let us go further down the road and venture a guess that the numbers that we have seen today can be improved upon and replicated over much if not all of the playa. Toss in any vagrant other metals of your choice (for there seem to be plenty that have been identified) that would add to the economic cost of extraction. What sort of response would all of this engender if the stakes became plainly higher. No doubt you are aware that all recovery processes are tailored to the ore body that they face, so if evidence continues building that we have a very large precious metals deposit at Franklin Lake, then there will be many parties who will no doubt feel the risk level has decreased in proportion to the amount of metals that are present. In one sense it can be an economy of scale - the larger the deposit, the more interest it can generate. Many large finds have fantastic rises in their share price BEFORE a feasibility study is ever done. Now, all of the above being said, for the purposes of recovery and other aspects, Naxos is building a pilot plant and already has an in-house lab at Death Valley Junction.

These numbers on the news release are a standard lead fire assay - the mining industry understands this. The results are from two labs, and other labs will be coming on board. Any guesstimates on recovery costs can be relegated to the future, for that is just what they are - guesstimates. A feasibility study takes the data from a pilot plant and adds it to the assay results of a part or the whole property - all of that will not happen in '98. We are much further advanced than we have been, and I am personally excited by this news release.

Regards,

Kim W.