Digging 10-40 feet is not expensive... The viability of ore is not based primarily on debt (of which this company has almost none aside from mortgages post refinance) but more on depth,strip ratios, intercept length, and grade all of which this project has in spades. They will have reserves shortly by the book, but given the huge amount of data that exists I am comfortable with 43-101 measured and indicated resources. The whole no reserves argument is a red herring in my opinion that I have seen used on every junior I have ever invested in, and has never mattered nor prevented me from making large gains. You also say that the 400 feet stuff is not "economically practical" but again that is dependent on many factors. If you are arguing the $6000/t ore they discovered at about that depth cannot be mined because $13> $6000 I will have to disagree, especially given the mounds of ore above it. This is an open pit bulk tonnage operation with much lower costs than an underground mine. Most of their grades are decent, near surface, with long strike lengths aka pay-dirt.
And in regards to your other point about mining companies peaking during exploration, I disagree. You are correct to say they often spike and hit a couple year high during the exploration and this is often the highest price many of these equities will command; as the reality of huge costs/ capex / long lead time to actually mining causes many to fail and dilute. BUT those that do actually mine profitably will normally smash their exploration high to bits and trade at many multiples of that price, with a backdrop of reserves, expanding production/cash flow.
Speculating on exploration = High risk
Speculating on a fully funded project a couple weeks from dore with a massive resource discovery and huge potential for expansion= lower risk
