Steve Twyerould PresentationLast night I attended the Tucson chapter meeting of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration. The guest speaker for the evening was Excelsior CEO Steve Twyerould who gave an update on the Gunnison in-situ copper project. Approximately 100 mining professionals were in attendance including contractors and suppliers to the industry.
Steve discussed several technical aspects of the project including the project's geology, its geochemistry, hydrology, and design, among others. He indicated that most of the technical work has been completed except for final engineering which he indicated is 90% complete.
Steve went on to discuss permitting. All state and federal permit applications have been filed and he is expecting to get back preliminary comments from Arizona in the next two weeks or so. He fully expects to receive operating permits in Q2 of 2017 followed by a six month construction period and a three to six month ramp-up to be ready for production in Q2 2018. Initially, production will be set at 25 million pounds to start which can be handled by the existing Johnson Camp facility.
I had the opportunity to speak with several of the mining professionals and was fortunate to sit at a table with several folks who have worked on the project. All were in agreement that the project should eventually get a green light for permitting. One engineer who was not involved with Gunnison agreed. He cast a little doubt on the Q2 estimate but said it shouldn't go much beyond that. This particular engineer is involved in the Rosemont copper project which has run into many permitting issues primarily because it's open pit and on federal land.
All in all, even at $2.15 a pound for copper the Gunnison project makes environmental and economic sense. In my opinion, at 28 cents USD, Excelsior represents a great opportunity for investors who can afford to wait. I eventually see this stock at a buck or more.