Point of clarification - ACA Howe use the word "reserves" 4 times in there document you referenced which is dated 19 June 2000. I've listed them below:
Page 19: Howe reserves the right, but will not be obliged to revise our report and conclusions if additional information becomes known to us subsequent to the date of this report. Howe does not assume responsibility for Medinah’s actions in distributing this report.
Page 28: Chile is the largest copper producer and exporter in the world, and hosts roughly 30% of the world’s reserves.
Page 28: With about 270 million tons of known reserves Chile has enough copper to continue current production for about 75 years.
Page 29: El Peñon (Meridian: reserves, 4.7 million tonnes grading 6.0 grams Au/t and 96 grams Ag/t)
"Reserves" are explicitly defined as "That part of a mineral deposit which could be economically and legally extracted or produced at the time of the reserve determination." (Page 34 Industry Guide 7)
At no point in time does ACA Howe ever say MDMN has anything close to reserves; proven, probable, indicated or otherwise. They did a study on the property and recommended further exploration. If we are going to have a legitimate discussion on the property, we should have our facts straight.
As for DeCosta's math; no one disputes it since it is basic multiplication. What is being discussed is the legitimacy of his numbers.
Back in 2000, ACA Howe recommended a further exploration budget of $1.3M for ADL and $260K for LDM for a total of $1.56M to explore the property. At that point in time, MDMN had a 200 MILLION share A/S. It has since climbed to 3 BILLION. At the present time, MDMN has 5 times more shares outstanding than they had in their entire A/S when the report was written. Where did all the money go because it certainly hasn't gone towards exploration.