Informal meeting with Stephen
Stephen has been traveling in Texas for the past few days meeting with potential investors getting the word out about Excelsior. I had the opportunity to arrange a dinner with him last evening along with several other investors in the Dallas area. During the dinner, Stephen touched on the following topics:
Execution Risk: Excelsior and their engineering teams performed extensive modeling of the Gunnison ore body based on extensive drilling and core samples. They used ‘finite element analysis’ models which break the entire ore body into 12’ cubes. These cubes were then treated as individual models, each with their own respective inflows and outflows of the pregnant leach solution (PLS) as the PLS is injected into the wellfield. Each element was then modeled for (1) gypsum creation as the result of interaction of the PLS with the carbonate resident in the ore, (2) dilution of the PLS as a result of gypsum creation, and (3) the resulting copper leached from the copper oxide on the fractured surfaces.
Stephen emphasized that the finite element analysis model used in the Feasibility Study (FS) does not include the amount of copper that can be recovered from transitional sulfides (the region between the copper oxide layer above and the copper sulfide layer below), nor does it account for slower reacting copper oxides. The exclusion of these two additional sources of copper solution yields very conservative estimates for the amount of copper recovered as used in the FS. Including these two sources may add an additional 10-15% to the amount of copper that can be actually recovered over and above the amounts stated in the FS.
Stephen and Roland are quite confident that the actual copper recovery will track the recovery numbers used in the FS.
Mine Construction: Stephen and the team are aggressively working toward a tentative July 2019 production start. Drilling has commenced on the property with additional drill rigs arriving in January. They are laser-focused on getting Gunnison into production as early as possible.
Overall, every shareholder present at the meeting left feeling very encouraged and optimistic about the direction of the company.
PG
