The Rosemont Copper project of HudBay Minerals is just west of the Tombstone area. Like the near surface portion of Hay Mountain, it is a copper skarn deposit (to be an open pit mine), and massive. It may produce as much as 10 percent of US copper demand over a projected 20-year mine life, if it ever gets into production.

Overall grades are 0.45 percent copper (plus some credits for moly and silver). Size matters here with 546 million tons in proven and probable reserves. Interestingly this project sold for about one dollar per ton, or 555 million dollars a few years back. Copper then was not expected to drop below 3 bucks, but now it's around 2. At 3 dollars, Rosemont was expected to return 3 times the buyer's money, so they may now be taking a slower approach to opening the mine in hopes copper prices will rise.

Now, recall the first part of the sentence above. Rosemont has an average grade of less than half a percent copper!

Compare this to the initial grades at Bisee of around 23 percent copper, and Niton readings at Hay Mountain of 22 percent copper. If volume is similar - a big IF at this point - at 546 million tons, and if grade averages "only" 2 percent copper, that alone at current prices would be worth ... Well, you do the math, but recall that production outside of 10 years carries a lot less value than some here would think.

Rosemont has been expected to process just over 27 million tons of ore per year. If Hay Mountain can produce from 2 percent copper - forget 22 percent - that's potential cash flow of a billion a year, BUT this is just playing with numbers for now, and with apologies to "kidtrader1", who believes we should not do this.

Anyway, this is why we need drilling. If you don't own any of this, don't buy based on my breccia dreams, or is that gossan dreams (pipes, or course, are about diamonds).

VP