Hysteria,

You asked, "if the electricity component is a major expense, or is it rather minor in the grand scheme of the entire mine construction?"

Please excuse my senior moment, but I cannot remember where I read that gold mine energy expenditures represent about 30% of overall production costs. ( And I also cannot remember if this is an estimate for open pit or underground or an average for both.)

But, what I'd like the folks at Romarco Minerals to tell me (and, remember that their February 2009 Feasibility study delivered a "remarkable" production cost somewhere in $200 range per oz of gold!), and have yet to succeed in speaking to anyone their but secretaries, is why are Romarco's energy costs are so low! I'd like to know if their power costs are subsided by the gov't or by special deals from power companies that run South Carolina's nukes.

Baires