Excelsior Mining Corp (EXMGF)

[Photonics_Guy]

Response from Company about restart date

Here is a response I received from the company after I sent them an email about planned restart date.

We do not yet have a hard date for a re-start; so yes, we are going to be asking for your patience as we wait for more clarity surrounding the pandemic. In order to conserve funds during the pandemic, Excelsior shifted to Care & Maintenance status; this transition was completed by the end of April. This change included reducing staffing levels by over 65%; rehiring of the workforce will be required prior to re-starting the wellfield.

I am sure there are people who will tell you otherwise, but the pandemic continues to disrupt global supply chains; and the timing of a restart at Gunnison will be primarily tied to Excelsior’s ability to secure mid/long-term acid supply. As an example of this disruption, I believe that one of the major suppliers, Grupo Mexico, has said that they will not be selling any acid into the USA in 2020. Another consideration for Excelsior is that we will want to have some confidence that there will not be a second wave of the pandemic that could disrupt operations after start-up; it would be very costly if we were to start-up and then have to immediately shut-down again because of the virus.

The world is at present just starting to tentatively move forward. We are in early days of a recovery, and it is going to take some more time for economies to get back on track, which will then rectify issues like supply lines and markets.

The reply makes sense to me. It is an exercise in patience, but a prudent move for now. It is my understanding that they are continuing to refine the ISR process on a single 5-spot pattern with the skeleton crew. I fully expect that when the decision to restart comes, that any kinks in the process will have been optimized away and we'll be off to the races.

PG