Niocorp Developments Ltd (NB)

[tedro84]

I didn't say at depth. I said to depth.

If you are talking about ground freezing during operation then you may have a point. It could be feasible that this is done with horizontal drilling as the ore is actually mined. In that case the depth wouldn't matter much. But this is not a capital expenditure as we are discussing. That would be opex, and it may not even be necessary as Nordmin as indicated "water encountered during production may be less than originally assumed," or something along those lines.

We are talking about the capex to actually sink the shaft. You can't sink the shaft until you take care of the water. You can't drill horizontally without access. The groundfreezing will be done from the surface with vertical holes. Groundwater for those first few hundred feet may or may not be present in large amounts, but with the freezing it's not an issue. Your refrigeration lines run the entire length one way or another, back to the refrigeration systems that will be on the surface. If this moves forward that is going to be some of the first equipment you see on site.