Folks, today’s news release from International Millennium continues a story that I was first introduced to about four months ago. The story was compelling at that time, and everything that has happened since has just made it more so. I invested when it was first shown to me, and in following the story since I have become incredulous that the value of the stock has not steadily climbed, in spite of the lousy markets.
When the company recently challenged me to help ‘get the story out’ my first thought about accepting it was, “now who am I going to blame if the stock doesn’t go up?” Well, after some reflection I decided that if people actually hear this story the stock couldn’t help but go up, and then I could take some credit for something that was inevitable anyway.
So I’ve taken up the challenge and over the next months I will be endeavouring to tell the story of International Millennium and the Nivloc project through as many mediums as possible and to as many people as possible. I am working with company management on a comprehensive IR strategy that will inform and educate the existing shareholders, and will tell the story to potential investors.
This news release is a perfect one with which to kick-off my new responsibilities. Here is a news release that builds upon a string of consistently good releases with even higher grades than those being reported now. For example, on November 8th we saw reported results of 449 g/t of silver along with 1.84 g/t gold over 1.52 m (15.84 oz/t silver & .06 oz/t gold over 5 ft).
Today’s news includes the following highlights
|
Drill Hole
|
Width
|
Silver
|
Gold
|
|
#28
|
9 feet
2.74 meters
|
12.44 oz/tonne
352.7 g/tonne
|
.09 oz/tonne
2.53 g/tonne
|
|
#27
|
18.2 feet
5.55 meters
|
2.96 oz/tonne
84 g/tonne
|
.02 oz/tonne
.46 g/tonne
|
|
#26
|
8 feet
2.44 meters
|
9.38 oz/tonne
266 g/tonne
|
.04 oz/tonne
1.14 g/tonne
|
|
#26
|
109 feet
33.22 meters
|
2.75 oz/tonne
78 g/tonne
|
.01 oz/tonne
.37 g/tonne
|
When you do the math with today’s prices for silver and gold using the ounces shown above you quickly get an idea as to the value of the rock we are talking about here. Couple that with the cost of underground mining and you can come to your own conclusions concerning the potential of this project.
This past week I spoke with Thomas Evans, the qualified geo who signed off on this news release, to get a better understanding of just what the mining conditions would be for this project. I wanted to get a concept as to how expensive it might be to mine the Nivloc, should it prove feasible.
His response to my question was immediate: “A perfect mining situation,” was how he described it. He went on to tell me that the old workings are dry (unusual), that infrastructure was not a problem and that the county where the project is located is solidly behind the project.
I followed this conversation with a search to find out what kind of costs the industry is experiencing in their underground silver mines, and here I have to sound a strong cautionary note: I am not suggesting that the costs associated with other underground silver mines have any bearing whatsoever on the costs that may potentially be experienced on the Nivloc project! Please understand that no two projects are the same, and that the regulating authorities take a very dim view of companies that compare their projects to others in order to plant the idea in the minds of investors that the valuations should be the same.
So, just to be clear, the purpose of my providing the following figures is solely to educate our shareholders on what is happening elsewhere in the industry.
Underground Silver Mines – Production Costs
| Company |
Project
|
Location
|
Mining Cost
|
|
Brigus Gold
|
Black Fox
|
Ontario, Canada
|
$56.48 / tonne
|
|
Santa Fe Gold
|
Summit Silver Gold Project
|
New Mexico, USA
|
$76.66 / tonne
|
|
Orko Silver Corp.
|
La Preciosa Project
|
Durango, Mexico
|
$11.84 / ounce
|
|
Great Panther Silver
|
Topia Mines
|
Durango, Mexico
|
$ 9.06 / ounce
|
|
Pretivm Resources
|
Brucejack Project
|
Northern B.C., Canada
|
$158.36 / tonne
|
Coming back to the news release at hand, I want to emphasize that it should be viewed in context, as part of the unfolding story of the Nivloc Project. You can well imagine what the cumulative results of these and all the past drill holes will be. And when you consider that the mineralized zone at this project remains open at depth and along strike to both the northeast and southwest, you can understand why so many experienced investors are taking down a position in International Millennium.
Over the next weeks I will be going back to the beginning of this story and recreating it for our shareholders and interested investors. Please keep your eyes open for company announcements regarding our plans for disseminating timely information to our shareholders.
Good luck in the markets,
Kevin Hull,
IR Manager
