David Heydon

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    • Sun Sep 10th 20:00 PM | Rating: 0 0
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      In Defense of Peak Gold: Evidence Gold Production Peaked in 2001
      Roland makes several comments about NautilusMinerals.com in his article about future potential for gold resources. Roland has done well to pick up the potential for underwater mining and may I elaborate.

      As Roland points out land exploration is mature, most countries have been picked over leaving most new mines as lower grade or deeper as he cites, both with attendant increased capital and operating costs and perhaps increased political risk. Over the history of mining, there has been many large high grade land based mines and evidence is that such deposits occur on the seafloor. Recall the ‘glory hole’ gold grades that old timers duck up off the surface!! – now all long mined out – well these types of grades still exist laying on the seafloor. The seafloor is just land, but it is unexplored relative to the mature land plays, and has not been picked over by the old timers.
      Nautilus holds 15,000 sq kilometers of exploration licences in Papua New Guinea and is scoping potential in other western pacific countries offshore. For example results reported last week from a new area showed very high gold and base metals.
      www.nautilusminerals.c...
      Sixty eight (68) surface samples collected on EL 1383 averaged 10.3g/t gold (Au), 22.1% zinc (Zn), 418g/t silver (Ag).

      The Company is targeting production mid 2009. Production costs (for the same quantity of metal produced) appear to be much lower as are the operating costs, eg Nautilus doesn't have to sink a shaft through solid rock (just deploy a pipe), no drill/blast required, no overburden, high grades. If they arrive on site with ship and mining equipment they would be in production in 10 days whereas if you arrive at a new porphyry gold/copper deposit in the Andes with your machinery it can be 3 to 4 years of pre stripping, and then 3 out of 4 trucks are carting weaste rock.


      Regarding Rolwand's comments "The company is talking about dredging up 2 million tons of rock per annum which presumably must be the amount required to make it a profitable exercise even at suggested grades of 10g per ton." I add that the 2 mill tons is NOT the amount required to be profitable (it is a much lower number!!), it is the maximum that the proposed mining system will produce up a 300mm pipe and if you are going to mine then you maximize your equipment spread.. I understand that the Company used US$385/ounce in early studies and the project showed very robust economics at these levels.
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