A lot of mines want their own mill because they control what will happen to their ore. With a toll mill you're at the mercy of the operator. If something happens and they lose your gold tough.
We shipped out of state because the local mill charged us $450/ton to mill an earlier batch plus only recovered 80% of our gold. The out of state mill was about 1/2 price at 90% recovery. If things go out of whack at your mill you can stop and try to fix it.
Also the ability to permit a mill is also tied to the location. Objections would be higher in say an Aspen verus in Dolores. Silverton has had a lot of Environmental cleanup in the past 20 years (about $500 million on Idarado alone) so the State will be sensitive to any new activity in the area, thus delaying things. A new mill shouldn't take more than 2-3 years to permit, if in the right area.
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