Letter from IR A reply from IR on FS status and due date.
Hello,
New Millennium was aiming for the completion of the study in Q1-13 and the company is not far off that schedule. However, no mining company can ever provide a definite date for completion of a feasibility study as they are conducted by outside experts. Companies cannot entirely control the progress of outside companies. Moreover, feasibility studies are inherently complicated - after all the point of a study is to accurately determine what a production scenario would entail. My experience is that they always take longer than anticipated. NML's study is one of the most involved feasibility studies ever undertaken because the Taconite project would be the biggest mining project in Canadian history. That is also why the study is costing $50 million. The report is almost completed. Once it is completed it must be analysed and summarized - then it can be released sometime in the first half of this year.
New Millennium’s progress with their feasibility study is much better than average. Delays of all kinds and cost overruns are typical of mining projects – sometimes attributable to company specific shortcomings, but often due to forces beyond their control such as increasing energy and material costs particularly because mining projects take years to bring into production in this regulatory environment. And if it takes years to bring a project to production it is almost assured that costs will be higher than originally planned.
Regards,
Andreas Curkovic
Investor Relations
416-577-9927