RE:RE:Bokan-Viable?
From Mark: Happy New Year. The reduction in State revenue from oil production is exactly why the Alaska Permanent Fund was initially developed. AIDEA uses the fund to develop resource businesses that will replace the depleting oil revenue. The $50 Billion permanent fund is used to underwrite a bond issue to fund the actual CAPEX requirements of the Bokan mine. This model has been very successful for approximately 30 years. AIDEA actually develops revenue from the bond issue while at the same time providing, the most cost effective funding available anywhere, to Ucore. The model also contemplates funding the mine construction and leasing back the facilities to Ucore. This creates further revenue for AIDEA and at the same time eliminates up front expenses from the first two years of mine life, for Ucore, spreading the expense over life of mine. This reduction of early expenses dramatically improves the IRR of the Bokan mine. The Bokan funding, particularly, was approved by the House of Representatives as well as the Senate unanimously. They are interested in creating industrial clusters that could expand the funding to take the project even further upstream. AIDEA is very stable long term partner of Ucore. Anyone that thinks otherwise is very poorly informed. We continue to advance our project and are looking forward to a very productive year in 2016. My best, Mark