I think lots to unpack with this and not a dampener but is realistic to consider. Again, nothing presented here is good enough for a Basis of Design or Bankable Feasibility Study - its about keeping it real for all investors. Highlighting risk and opportunity. With knowledge, we make better decisions.
So i think its sensible to address:
1. temperature, Location
2. infrastructure costs, Power
3. permitting and Licensing.
4. Telecomms
1. Let's start with temperature. It apparently reaches about -50 degrees. At that temp, life is hard. Both copper concentrators in Kazakhstan and Mongolia I commissioned were in locations with temperature range from -50C to +40C. The entire concentrator was housed in an insulated cladded building - similar to an extra-large bunnings warehouse x3. Everything needed to consider harsh temperatures and heat tracing to keep all pipes a must. At these temperatures things go wrong really fast. Things that did go wrong included freezing the thickener. Basically a very large circular pool about 75m diameter froze solid. The 3km 800mm diameter tails line froze solid. The fire system hydrants froze. When this happens - its shut shop for 3 months until spring.
It also makes construction expensive. Any welding had to be extreme temperature certified. Normal welding cracks at -50C.
Expensive large gearboxes failed because the temperature made the oil too viscus. The entire gearbox had to be heat traced almost. We killed 2x $1.5M AUD gearboxes in 2 weeks, then had to resort to religion and late night prayers to keep the final spare alive.
You couldn't use taught wire pull wires on conveyors as the ice made them too heavy and they tripped the conveyor.
Some days you couldn't get transport in an out because the blizzards came in or snow was too high.
One of the pipes in the primary crusher burst and flooded the below ground primary crusher. It froze solid in less than 2 hours. It took months to unfreeze and drain the water.
Copper concentrators require huge amounts of liquids in the flotation circuit and all needs to be heat traced and heavily insulated to prevent from freezing. This adds cost to the normal basic design.
At Oyu Tolgoi, they had a central heating plant which was basically a very expensive boiler that distributed steam to all areas of the plant for heating. Its an additional cost and not needed in backyard Australia.
The point being - this project if constructed will be in an extreme location and it will be difficult to get working and keep working, however it can be done and if the project has value, then these items aren't deal breakers. They are difficult yes, there are known methods to mitigate all. Just comes down to quality of engineering team, leadership team and construction / commissioning teams. I might even volunteer if the pay is good enough!
2. Infrastructure costs.
Again this is part of any project. Most mines in central Australia or the North West have to spend large amounts of capital on roads, railways or ports. FMG, like BHP and RIO had to build their own 250km heavy gauge railways to support 2.5km long trains. Mineral resources built long roads and driverless haul trucks. They built their own ports, bought their own 250,000 ton ships etc. Built their own airports. Its just a cost, not a deal breaker. These costs are additional yes and an ideal situation would be to build a mine in the middle of the city where everything was available including chicken treat for lunch. Yes, these costs may be high but for a big project are just part and parcel.
At Oyu Tolgoi, they trucked the ore out about 300km to the border. This was done 40x trucks at a time in a convoy. The concentrate was bagged in 2 tonne bags and loaded onto trucks and off they went. If roads aren't practical, then perhaps a railway. Who knows. I'm guessing the reason a road not done is not cheap and the land is very difficult terrain or just not cost effective or practical yet when there are water ways in summer, and planes in winter and the population so small.
At OT, they had to build a 250km 220kV transmission line from Chinese owned inner Mongolia. You can build transmission lines with helicopters relatively quickly. If you couldn't source power via a transmission line, then you'd need to get either gas or diesel. For a large concentrator if you couldn't get a power line in, then you would need a gas pipeline perhaps to provide the energy needed. One step at a time. At Solomon Power Station in the Pilbara, its a 300MW power station with a gas pipeline from the Burrup peninsula. It supplies Solomon iron ore mine and iron Bridge and growing. Again, just a cost.
Again if the project is profitable, roads and power transmission line infrastructure are just another capital cost - one that i'd prefer not to pay, but if necessary you do it. Estimated cost for roads could be $1m/km. 350km is $350m. Thats not much compared to a $3B USD concentrator. So lets not get too discouraged just yet until the work has been done.
Regarding airfield, every project i've worked on had it owns airfields and aerodrome. Most will land a 737. This is not an issue. Again, just a minor cost compared to the concentrator.
Point being - if the deposit is smaller than anticipated, it might not be worth building a mine and i get it. Lets wait until the data is in though. 50m mc is chicken feed when the upside is that 5b -15b peak. Many years away though!
3. Permitting and Licensing. Apparently the area is a Tier 1 and appears friendly to the prospect. From the website...https://www.mining.com/nunavut-grants-white-cliff-exploration-permit-for-copper-project/
"Australia’s White Cliff Minerals (ASX: WCN) said on Monday that the Nunavut Planning Commission had approved the company’s exploration plans for its Coppermine River project in the largest and northernmost territory of Canada.The regulator’s decision marks a major step in the permitting process for the copper mine, as it allows the company to appoint contractors for 2024 and complete the logistical planning phase, it said. The approved plan is the result of a 10-year consultation that was completed in September last year, White Cliff said."
You never know what happens but i would expect that the project would need to give something back to the community (which it most definitely should).
Point being - Permitting and Licensing, with environmental approvals should always be started up front. This appears to have been started. I doubt the journey is anywhere near finished. If the deposit it big enough, then the local community will prosper and hence those approvals should be obtained. The timeframes are indeterminate - but when a community votes in favour, I'd say that permitting can be done faster.
4. Telecoms is actually the easier issue to solve. If a transmission line is bought in, you'd install something like a 192core fibre in your overhead earth conductor. If not, then you'd use microwave or other technologies like starlink. Its not a problem and doesn't need to be.
So yes, i think the issues raised by eastwes101 are valid. At this stage, i wouldn't say any of them are deal breakers, just some considerations that add to the capex.
Cheers and hope this puts some further realism to the process.
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