The gold grades in the samples of the 7 veins at level 19 were terrific at 12.7 g/tonne. The silver grades were not bad either at 305.4 g/tonne. The silver equivalent of this ore including the gold is 36 ounces per tonne. Very good grades since break even is probably around 10 ounces per tonne. After first reading the news release I was disapponted that no infomation was given about whether the ore is sulphides or oxides. After rereading the article, I noticed that the G1 vein is listed twice, with the second listing reading G1 Sul. I take it that this means the plain G1 and all of the other 6 veins are oxides since they are not followed by the abbreviation for sulphide.
The raw metal value of the average precious metals is $587/tonne at current prices. The average vien width is 0.62m, so if we dilute the grades to a mineable width of 1 meter, then the value of the diluted gold is $264.50/tonne and of the diluted silver is $99.36/tonne. Using recoveries of 75% for the gold and 55% for the silver, the value of the recovered precious metals is $253.02/tonne. If we use an mining cost of $50/tonne and a dore bar sales cost of 3%, then the profit from this ore is $201.78/tonne.
For simplicity sake, lets say this ore will generate a profit of $200/tonne and sales of $250/tonne. If this ore is run thru the oxide mill at 500 tpd (which ECU has been averaging the last few months), then sales from this operation would be $3,750,000 per month and profit would be $3,000,000/month.
While the above oxide mill operation would be the heavyweight of the ECU operation, there are still many additional streams of revenue that we need to include.
-Blending of the gold pyrite concentrate into the oxide mill feed = $800,000 sales/month
- Operation of the sulphide mill - $400,000 to $800,000/month depending on tonnage.
-Operation of the under construction new 400 tpd circuit for the pyrite/gold tailings - ? $500,000/month.
Operation of the proposed trickling water circuit for additional recovery of ore treated in the oxide mill - ? $200,000.
So we see that once ECU starts firing on all cylinders, they could easily have sales of $4 million per month, and probably $5 million per month. If gold goes to $1500 to $2500 per ounce in the next year like some highly regarded pros are saying, then we will have to decide if the party is at Big Pics house or at Mooses' estate.
As each news release have been posted, I keep thinking that ECU is like a kid in a candy store. Everywhere they look there is something that will add to their profit. I also believe that they have wanted to grant the stock options because they know that our share price is going up soon, fast, and far.
