Just read this on Minesite.com. Sounds hopeful. DrCaddis

TTM Resources Is Driving Development Forward At The Chu Molybdenum Project In British Columbia

By Chris Cann

Canadian junior TTM Resources is making a deliberate transition in turning itself from an explorer into a developer at the moment. It’s a move that’s based around the company’s Chu molybdenum resource in central British Columbia, and decision to slow the pace of exploration and speed up the move to production is in many ways a reflection of the scarcity of general funding at the moment. The company spent 2008 with three drill rigs working tirelessly on enlarging and upgrading tonnages at Chu and with the aim of producing a preliminary economic assessment. The assessment duly came in, and was centred around an indicated resource of 388.5 million tonnes of ore grading 0.052% molybdenum at a 0.04% moly cut-off. There’s also 200.9 million tonnes of inferred resources grading 0.062% molybdenum at the same cut off grade. So the priority for 2009 will be infill drilling to upgrade the resource even further, and the continuation of environmental studies. The goal is to get into production by early 2011.

“We’re going to have at least one rig starting in about six weeks and that will be focused on infill drilling to bring resources from the inferred to the indicated category,” TTM’s Tom Brady told Minesite. “We had three drills going last year. Now we’ve really slowed down the pace and moved the focus of the money over to developing because we really don’t need prove up more than the almost 700 million tonnes of molybdenum we have – that’s plenty to make a mine.”

If the markets improve and finance can be raised at a more respectable price – TTM has traded as low as C$0.12 of late, but the company’s last raising in late 2007 was done at C$1.50 – TTM would like to add a second and third drill rig to help move the indicated resources into the measured category. The results from any such drilling would then be incorporated into a bankable feasibility study. “The issue of financing will be addressed as we move forward and the markets get better.” Brady said. “Could we use more capital? Absolutely. Are we planning on financing at C$0.12? Absolutely not – it’s ridiculous, but that’s the world today. This will be a mine one day but you could dilute it until it becomes worthless.”

The company has also added Golder & Associates to consult on the environmental and engineering planning work for the project and has hired a new vice president of exploration to free up chief operating officer Warren Robb to concentrate on development strategies. TTM has already begun work in preparation for an environmental impact study. The company is currently seeking community feedback on the proposed mine. Baseline water studies were initiated more than a year ago. Robb will work closely with Golder & Associates throughout the development process. The addition of Wesley Raven as vice president of exploration will add another 20 years of experience to the exploration team, though Raven may find himself doing little more than planning during his first few months in the job. Having said that, once the exploration program is back in full swing Raven will be a busy man, searching as he will be, for extensions to the 1.7 kilometre-long, 700 meter-deep and 300 meter-wide mineralised zone at Chu, which is still open in all directions.

Development will be aided by the project’s location. It’s 80 kilometres south-southwest from the city of Vanderhoof and just 75 kilometres from the Endako molybdenum mine and processing facility. Brady is optimistic about the molybdenum price but remains cautious on his predictions for a recovery. “These stimulus packages worldwide are mostly infrastructure, which requires molybdenum for anti-corrosion and strength. Then you’ve got the offset to that in the automotive industry, which has been devastated, and every car has got molybdenum in it for strength. So there’s lot’s of uncertainty.” But with molybdenum prices at about US$11.50 a pound, down from US$35 per pound about six months ago, and the steel industry showing signs of an improvement, it’s difficult to imagine that molybdenum will go any way other than up. TTM is nursing three other molybdenum projects in Canada. These it plans to bring onstream in due course, using Chu as the flagship.