I have read many posts this morning that were made over the weekend. The press release mentions production and NSR values but I don't think there will be any trucking of ore and selling it to another company. For one thing, even if it can be done profitably, it would be such a waste of inherent value of the ore. So much more profit can be made by concentrating the ore and reducing the amount of material that has to be shipped. The cost of fuel, manpower, road maintenance, equipment maintenance would be onerous and they are not going down. So a concentrator is essential. Another point which validates this is E1 is not a lone pod and it is open at depth. A concentrator will have to be located strategically between the ore bodies. With only 200 holes drilled so far and a hell of a lot of exploration to be done in the next 30 months, it is premature to be talking about production.
The world is not a friendly place for a small independant mining producer. Significant money is nearly impossible to raise by small companies with the turmoil in the financial business community. Mining companies are being eaten up in friendly acquisitions by a handful of majors globally. This will certainly happen to us and hopefully not for a while longer. Maybe this is the reason for the production message that was sent. The fight for Voiseys Bay went long and hard and neither of the two companies fighting even exist today. The smelter is not even started yet though the concentrator has been working for a few years. Might I add in a hostile remote northern environment. My point is that current global economic and industry trends indicate that it will take a major to make this happen and a major is certainly in our future.
The ring of Fire has rich nickel/copper around E1, chromite on the periphery, and copper to the north. There will be three sizeable mining operations there in the years to come. The road and power costs will be not nearly as formidable when shared among them. Concentrators will be built providing feed for smelters elsewhere. We have to think like investors now, park your money into NOT, enjoy posting on this board and support one another, think BIG PICTURE and wait.
Mike
