RE: Freeze ring technology"Seriously, you can have $7.8 billion in assets in the ground, but if you do not have the ability to extract - you have nothing. So what you got ?"
You've got mineralized rock that costs more to extract than leave in the ground, that's what. 99% of PP is uneconomic. Only R-190 is worth a damn. But since nobody will finance a 18 month mine (ie the length of time to mine R-190), they had to drill out the rest of the low grade, high cost deposits and put together a dubious mine plan with a few years mine life to try and fool potential financiers that the project was worth doing. So far, they've haven't found any fools - they missed their golden chance back in '06 when any pathetic mine plan found investors - who then mostly lost their backside when metal prices collapsed - and they haven't returned.
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At $2 Zn, PP works. At <$1, it doesn't. And that's why PP can't get financing, despite Peggy's best efforts (who has huge incentives besides getting a paycheck, she also gets an outrageous finance "success fee" plus the outrageous royalty with the Rummy).
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The financing "success fee" is one of the scummiest deals Peggy has arranged in a while - and that's saying something with her bottom of barrel history and self-dealing. It's her job to find financing, so why the need for such a generous "sweetener" to find someone to finance such a "great play"? And it's even more outrageous as she keeps the "fee" regardless of how pathetic the finance terms are - if it has 100% interest or 100x dilution, she'd still gets to keep the fee...
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And don't forget she and the Rummy have that royalty that comes off the top. They stand to make millions, regardless of dilution, regardless of profitability. Their sole financial interest is to see PP into production - whether it makes a dime for shareholders is totally immaterial...
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Caveat Emptor