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Gold/Mining/Energy : Winspear Resources -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (8474)	10/18/1998 1:26:00 PM
From: Gord Bolton	Respond to of 26850

Good post and maybe more reasons to simply truck the Winspear ore to Aber's proposed plant. My local rag, the Star Phoenix, carried a picture this Saturday of a recently constructed ore truck which is designed to carry >250 tonnes. If there are no long steep uphill grades between the Winspear site and Aber's plant I would suggest that one could spec an ore truck like that and boost the power plant to pull a couple of sleds of similiar capacity. The friction of heavy loads on ice is very low as the weigt will melt a thin film of water at any friction point and the water serves to lubricate the passage. The local people know a lot about the technology involved, it's really very simple. The ore truck has a diesel power plant and electric motor drive to the wheels. I would expect that the motors would not only serve as brakes in the downhill but generate electricity at the same time. This would have the added benefit of eliminating freezing problems associated with air brake systems. Install a diesel fuel heater in the fuel tanks and there you have a virtual locomotive and ice sled train that would haul 750 tonnes at a crack (maybe more). That could be very efficient and one might avoid much of the costs associated with building a plant at the Winspear site and disposing of tailings, organic waste, etc. The tailings could be used to build the dikes that Aber will need at their site. Alas, this all seems so simple to me. And I just can't bear the thought of all those nice diamonds just sitting in the cold, cold ground. I'll bet that even Sam McGee would give things another try up north if he had a nice warm cab to ride in and a hot Caribou stew at the end of the trail instead of a dog sled and frozen biscuits with ice worm cocktails. The maps that I have indicate that there are no lakes to cross and the land looks fairly level between Winspear and Aber. If someone has a good topographical map or has traveled the Lupin Road over this section, please post what you know. I would expect that the ground freezes up very early in the fall and a little snow would be all that would be required to coat the ice road.

To: Solon who wrote (8474)	10/18/1998 1:32:00 PM
From: teevee	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 26850

Hi Solon, Everyone should read the attachment to your post. They would then understand why Winspear trades in the range it does (IMO the stock is fully priced to overpriced). You could increase the tonnage 10 fold (which is very reasonable IMO), maintain the grade and I doubt it would have much impact on the value because there are practical limits to the amount of tonnage that can be mined underground (likely 2000-3000 tons/day max). Also, would a small or intermediate size company have the patience and money to meet the new permitting criteria? All those required studies delay development which has a big impact on discounted present value and real returns on money invested (that is if someone must someday make a real profit the "old fashioned way"), or does everyone on this thread want to tout "blue sky" and play "stock market musical chairs" with their money?

To: Solon who wrote (8474)	10/18/1998 8:30:00 PM
From: E. Charters	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26850

It is mainly because they did not hire me to keep costs down. I could have built the ekati for about 300 million. And the prelim mine for 50 million could have paid for that too. Bad mistake. They should have been in production 3 years ago. Bad byzantine-too-many-cooks planning. Sign of too much bureaucracy. If Pierre Beauchemin had planned like that Manitoba would never have developed a copper industry. He got his mill going in 1 year. Time is the essence. Deliver me from too much education as it never makes a decision wrong or not. EC<:-}