EdG
1. Slide 9: 3 zeros are missing, they could have labelled it as (M) rather than (000). Go back one slide, slide 8 says Initial Capital (2012) = $609M, the slot for 2014 is left blank, presumably this is the $680M (Million) due to inflation, or for some extra items?
For sure it's millions on slide 9.
2. Your interpretation looks reasonable as a first guess.
Got a few comments
- Wish that they could give a bit more details, since it is not clear if NOT still goes for the slurry pipe or build a permanent road from Webequie Jct to the site @ 100% cost, and the portion from Webequie Jct to Hwy 808 would be 50% share with others (Prov, other miners). According to the KWG map showing NOT EW road and KWG Alternate EW, the 200km initial section from Hwy 808 to Webequie Jct would cost some $80M, and the last 80km portion to the site would cost from $14-18M for an ice road, and perhaps quite a bit more (~$80M?) since it is in the swamp. In addition, it's not clear which route NOT will use, since they recently announced a new section from Marten Falls to the RoF. Hence, the road cost (In-direct cost) is difficult to determine.
- The $44M contingency looks reasonable
- Interest and fees: $40M is lucrative for some financial institutions.
- IMO, NOT Nickel project is a nice a neat and profitable package. If NOT would trim down some of the costs, e.g the permanent roads and the pipeline, and just produce the concentrate, stockpile it and take it down to civilization on ice roads. Let the governemnt sand the FNs sort out the permanent road since the project could be fast tracked without having to wait for this road item to be resolved. Because of the relatively smaller volome of the 10% Ni concentrate compared to chromite, it should be possible to transport the stuff out by trucks.
- As far as power is concernned, the fastest route is to go for the conventional diesel generator (would require some ~25MW to power the site?). It would take years to get the power line up. Wind and solar power sound nice but they cannot provide base load to support a mining operation. Webequie has experience with diesel power plant, it has a good facility near the airport. If additional power is required they can expand the facility, or the government can string a ~80km line from NOT 25MW generator to Webequie for some back-up power (to be paid on a as needed basis) to the community, a win-win situation for everyone.
goldhunter
