At a glance: NAG's expenses have been around $400,000 per quarter(give or take) for the past year and a bit...not including Q4 of 2008(1.5million) which was probably due to drilling or acquisition costs.
News release...
https://www.stockwatch.com/newsit/newsit_newsit.aspx?bid=Z-C:NAG-1649542&symbol=NAG&news_region=C states "Both Engle Hollow Mining and Kentucky Mine Power have agreed to a fixed cost per ton of coal mined. This will allow North American Gem to control costs and more accurately project earnings. NAG expects to have a monthly coal production level of approximately
10,000 net tons, given each auger can produce 4,000 to 6,000 net tons per month. The production rate and mine-life projections have been made without support of a feasibility study, there is no certainty the proposed operations will be economically viable. "
10,000 net tons monthly is 30,000 tons quarterly. 30,000 tons at $56 = $1,680,000 minus fixed coal processing expenses. We won't know the true expenses or the quantity of coal produced until 2010 Q1 results I would assume, as start up, mobilization and the cost of 'working out bugs' will be represented in 2009 Q4 and won't represent the revenue/expense per ton of coal once we're up and running.
There are obviously some other costs to consider, but overall, I think we're in the positives on this mine alone.
Bottom line is that unless the costs are super high, we'll have some positive cash flow, enough to cover the company's quarterly expenses across the board, with the left over proceeds enabling the company to continue on with the next 3 mines, and eventually LL.