RE:Valuation of infrastructure on site?budW,
It's a difficult question to provide a decent answer since which would have to start with "It depends...". However,
Location, location, location: this is a crutial factor, since at a remote location the company will need a full-blown camp to operate the mine. It will need all the supporting facilities, water, electricity, heating, etc. IN some cases, the workers may have to be flown in and out. They would need sleeping facility, feeding, entertainment, etc... This would cost a bundle, not only the initial Capex to set up the camp, but the running costs would be sizable. Even though much bigger, Detour Mine would give an idea of the cost (over $200/oz produced?)
For ICG, the situation is quite different, Val d'Or (Pop: 32,000) is a few km away,essentiall next door. There will be a good pool of mine workers who can come to work every day and return home to their families every night. This is a stable situation for the company, i.e. the company does not need to constantly worry about workers quitting after a few months because of isolation in a remote location. De Jong has mentioned this advantage in his presentation at the Precious Metals Summit.
After work, they can drop by the local waterhole and mingle with the local folks. Some out of the out of towners may decide to take roots and raise their kids as drillers, miners, geos, CEOs, etc. It would be fun to see a CEO building his mansion in Val d'Or (of course, with gold plated windows).
So, in general term, ICG is sitting pretty as far as worker recruting and welfare both at work and at home are concerned.
GH