q&a, page-71

Jaz,

my costs are based on my industry experience (Coal and IO in Australia) for a contractor's fees to run a processing plant. In coal its usually $12-15/t and IO its usually $8-15/t. IO can be cheaper because its simpler and usually higher tonnages (economies of scale), also uses less reagents. IO however also causes more wear and requires more maintenance downtime.

So if you take $15 for the contractor and assume CDB keeps its current corporate usage on top of that. Add in $10/t for the tailings materials handling and you will probably end up in the ballpark.

Lets say $30/tonne. Decent margin to be made. This could be way higher due to my experience being in Australi.. but despite peoples misconception mining isn't that much different cost-wise per rom tonne and overburden consideration.

Reason being is the background training and knowledge in australia usually gives an edge in performance which makes up for the far higher wages... Reliability and minimal maintenance is a huge benfit when 1 truck tire costs $150k and 1 hour downtime can cost $500k (3000tph plant down for 1 hour)

The reason I don't hold is they have no costs for process plant capital, which will be a decent cost for a 1million tpa plant.