RE:RE:Great Drill Results or Mining Permit or M&A or Other?Thanks for the info!
No history of drilling by VVC. Some mining was done by small miners in the past - in the surface pits.
A bit of drilling was done by other owners (I believe in the 80s). From that drilling - a small historical resource exists (non-43101). That drilling was only over a tiny piece of the property - and I believe only shallow also.
I believe the limited historical drilling provided something like a .47% Cooper grade, which is good enough for this mining operation. VCC will be mining right at the surface, which is low cost. In addition, if I remember correctly, it will be a heap leach operation for a while. All of this helps to reduce the costs.
The .47% Cu grade can probably provide a competitive cost per lb of around $2.00. The copper revenue price has been bouncing around in the $3.20 area. After the pilot state, with increase in volume, economies of scale can probably bring down the cost per Cu lb below that $2.00 level.
Any drill results that can push the average Cu grade above .47% will naturally be a bonus.
The system is likely a supergene system - which means there are likely multiple layers of different copper zones going down. If VVC can show that it is indeed a supergene system - with a couple of drill holes - the market should embrace this proof. However, I don`t know if VVC is testing at depth right now (even with a couple of holes).
The oxide zones - which is helpful for heap leach mining - are always located closer to the surface. The parts of the supergene structure that is located lower down will not be oxide and will likely be harder material that could require more conventional (milling type) processing setup - for later years of the mining operation.
The current priority drilling for VVC is to drill up the pit areas to Proven and Probable resource - and allow for confidence mine planning.
By establishing (via drilling) that a supergene system actually exists here - will further the theory that this property can one day provide 5 billion (+) lbs of copper. They probably need to establish they can map out, say, 500 million first, and then 1 billion.