I visited with Westport Energy representative at the mine location and offsite post processing area this week, and I am now thoroughly convinced they will be successful. I believe as they do that there is significant gold in the ground. They described to me exactly how the mining process will work on a daily basis day and night, from hiring the right people, how land reclamation is done to exceed the BLM standard, the high end equipment being purchased for recovery, how they keep the gold secure as it is mined and eventually sold into the markets, transportation to and post processing at the offsite wash plant in Ehrenburg a few miles away, etc. They literally cannot wait to get started and the permitting, as announced already in a recent press release, should be done in next couple weeks, with a start date around Feb 1 as announced. Within a month they will be at full capacity as they work out the kinks.
A recent announcement mentioned bulk sampling test, though due to some logistics with regards to having the proper equipment, that has not been done (and not sure they are planning on it or now), BUT, they have done so much sampling in the area that they are very confident in the validity of the claim and its reserves. There's gold in them hills (and they are hills, steep hills) and the extent of the claims will take us many many years into the future. So at this point I am not concerned about seeing any more evidence of gold in the ground except to see the results when they officially tart mining, no need to wait any longer.
I think ITEC has also learned from this process of how to work better with the BLM to move forward more quickly on the next project and in fact my attitude now is more that this is a done deal (i know I might sound more confident than i should be.). I hope they can focus on the next opportunity as aggressively and as logistically and financially possible. As far as the ITEC / Westport relationship goes for this venture, which is obviously important, I was told it is a match made in heaven.
In summary I am impressed with what I have seen and believe this to be a great investment - mark this post, it might take a few months, but I expect the stock to rise along with the volume as they start pulling gold through the spring. I am a lot less concerned about this investment than many of my others in the natural resources arena, mostly b/c I believe this has the most potential based on its low price (though the whole natural resources market is more depressed than I ever thought was possible).
