Is the testing of the effectiveness of the leaching method part of the PEA or would that be further down the line at the FS stage? Any more drilling required for the PEA?
Do you think it is a good idea to try and sell off DF into this poorly performing market?
My understanding is that they test the leaching method as part of the PEA. I believe that the PEA gives an estimated cost of extraction. In order to do that they would need to test the leaching, and arrive at a total amount of copper that could be extracted. I think that work is being done as part of the Resource Estimate actually and then fed into the PEA.
I'm kind of hazy on the details but I think we can't contemplate selling the project until we have the PEA completed. That might take until early summer at a guess.
At that point if we use 10 cents a pound of copper in situ, and if we take the historical estimate of 1.2 billion pounds that works out to about 30 cents a share. I can't speak for what they are going to do but I have a feeling that they will wait until they can get what they think it is worth.
Personally I would take less in this environment and maybe they can get another project that can be flipped within another couple of years. We're a long way from that point yet though.
After the Resource Estimate we should be feeling a lot better because it will be the first modern document of some reliability. It is underway at this point so no more drilling is required.