Some people raised the question that why Teck is going to drill eastside of the proposed pit but not other more promising zones to unlock the value of the deposit, thinking that more value wll be added if drilling on other zones can turn out good results. In this way they can prove the district concept as emphased many times by Elmer. However, this is not necessaily true. Why?

The biggest difference between an explorer and a mine operater is that the explorer hopes to identify as many deposits as possible but a mine operator's primary concern is how to put a deposit into operation and extend the mine life as long as possibe. The operator does not care much about the other zones outside the main deposit, in our case the zones outside the proposed mining areas. The reason is that even very good results are obtained from other zones, Teck is not going to build a second or third processing plant near the main pit any time soon, considering the billions of dollars' cost and risk. It is obvious that concentrating on one deposit and developing it is the most practical way. For an operator there is no urgency to explore the surrounding areas when one deposit can be mined 20-30 years.

but why does Teck plan to drill east side and not build the mine according to the feasibility study? beacuse from an operator's point the feasibility study leaves a lot to be improved. Emler completed the feasibility studies to fulfill the agreement but what Teck needs is a feasibility study that can be used for mine building. Elmer's FS obviously does not meet Teck's requirements.

The pit design of current FS assumes there is not mineralization in the eastside of the pit. Less waste rocks will be removed with this assumption, but actually it's highly likely that the eastside of the mountain is mineralised and the whole pit needs to be re-designed. it's much easier to get the pit design right (cover the eastside of the montain) in the first place than to push the pit wall to the east at the late stage of operation.

so Teck is doing the exactly right thing at this moment in order to makde a construction decistion on the deposit. wehther the drills are good or bad, they will help Teck to make a desition. if it's good the pit needs to be re-designed, and if it's bad Teck will mantain the current pit design.

so do not put your high hope on the drill results. an offer could come any time before Teck makes the construction desition.

what Teck is planning rought now is