I am sure you know the figures for Eagle1, in the NI43-101 compliant report this was given a gross valuation of $1.7 billion, and a net value of $700 million. Mine life was, I believe, something like 5 years. I know there are now believed to be perhaps two or three times the resources (in gross value) at deeper levels. That would give a Net Value of maybe $2.1 billion, total(ie 3 times $700m) Assuming that although start up costs will be recouped to some extent in the initial open pit stage, at lower levels costs will be higher. Mine life will in all probability be extended by these deeper deposits. If you have a better idea of costs and returns, certainly I bow to your superior knowledge.
The figure given by CLF are $800million capital costs, for a gross return of $1.4billion per year. We dont know the actual net on this, but i think that if we assume an open pit resource is cheap to exploit, we can place mining costs per ton at a low figure per ton.
Let us set all costs very high, at 50% of gross returns. That would leave you with $700 million per year to repay your capital. But wait, capital was $800m. Gosh so capital plus interest and other unknown costs might be repaid in 2(two) years. If those figures are anything closes to reality,then CLF will have 28 years of mine life at a net return of $700milion per year.
Now these figures look overly optimistic, don't they? Please, please tell me what you think real world figures will be. In actual numbers, or ranges of numbers, not just some dismissive statement. Thank you.