RE:More Precious Than Gold? Copper’s the Better Inflation Hedge The price of copper will increase in the future. This means that Excelsior's profit will increase in the future. This is why the NPV calculations for MIN are misleading.
All NPV calculations are based on a guess as to MIN's profitability in future years and some discount rate, like 7.5%. Of these two, the future profitability is the biggest unknown.
I am perfectly happy to hold Excelsior for the next 24 years and see how much money they make. Only in 24 years can we truly calculate what the NPV is today. I think that time will tell that it is a lot more than a buyout would offer. (Why else would someone want to buy us out unless they thought that we were worth more than they were offering?)