RE: comparison questionNDM is very low grade, so be careful. I looked into NDM almost 1 year ago, and there were 2 things that made me think twice;
-even the high grade zone contains less than 1% Copper equivalent, whereas the high grade zone at Oya is about 4 times that. Suppose that both comapnies have the same operating costs, in that each ton of ore is processed at the same cost. Now, a 1% Copper equivalent means that each ton has about 20lbs of Copper - worth about US$20.00. There are not many mines in the world where operating costs are this low. Even if this is the case, each ton of high grade at Oya is worth $80 compared to $20 at pebble Hill. This model would imply that Ivanhoe has operating profit/ton of $80 - $20 = $60. Northern Dynasty would have an operating profit/ton of $20 - $20 = 0.
Anyhow, I do hope that you get the picture. I have not dug into NDM too deeply, but I quickly noticed that their average grade and even their "high grade" core is low grade. I just don't beleive that it will be economical, even though there is certainly no shortage of ore.
-secondly, I just asked myself - Why did Teck walk away from this deal? They are very asture, and had proven out most of the resource, but they did'nt even retain a small interest when they walked away.
Anyhow, do your homework, but I love IVN because of the high grades, whcih would imply a highly profitable mining opeeration, especially once they start to mine the high grade zone.
One more note, i live in British Columbia, and I often wonder if I wll ever again see a mine in this wonderful province as the tree-huggers won't let you take a $hit in the woods, let alone build a mine. kind of like a "Not in my back yard" attitude. I have heard that the local community in Alaska is very pro-mine wrt to the Pebble Hill development, but surely someone from the lower 48 will veto it and creat another park! (I am just being sarcastic, but people in North America have to wake up. It seems they are content to destroy the rain forests and rivers in south America, but not here!)
Good luck
JANDD