Hi H-rattle!

I am too am a retail schmuck...

I would say that KXL has no chance to earn back the development expenditure if they decided to start mining what has been proven up so far. And that is the bottom line for any mining company. It costs $X to get a mine developed, and then it costs $Y for ongoing operating costs. If the operating profit is not enough to pay back what it costs you to get a mine into production, then you do not go ahead with it. And there are expensive feasibility studies, permitting, etc before you even get to the point where you are writing cheques for mine development.

Now that is not to say there are not distinct resource blocks that have been established at Hercules which could contribute to a mineable resource. I am just saying we have nowhere near the critical mass proven up right now to make that worth developing.

Lets say the company finds a huge hit later this year, half an ounce average grade across several meters of vein, for say a million tonnes of mineralization. Well then we could start talking about potentially economic mining, and add in a few blocks here and there that were proven up in the last couple of years. But in the absense of big economic discovery to go with it, the stuff we know about so far is not worth bugger all.

Thats my opinion based on the info that I have seen and my experience evaluating mining operations. Others may tell you something different and so be it. Now having stated all of that, I am still very bullish because I do think they will find some fat zones sooner or later. The stock traded at $2 a year ago and we are way further ahead now than we were back then, yet the story is discounted by 75%. Looks like value to me and worth buying now.

cheers!

mike