Mid Termer here, but used to work underground in the Otter, many years ago, and remember the large swathes of he good green ore bodies which were almost majestic in their appearance amoungst the 'mullock' surrounding them. When traveling through Kal/Kam/Widgie a few years ago, I got local wind of Mincor's expansion and 'linking' up old shafts and declines.... This was something talked about decades ago, I remember a sort of vacuum wall around maybe the 1400 foot level between the Otter, and the then "McMahon" shaft/decline, and people talking of one day linking them all up.... The Otter sat despairingly non used for quite some time but over the past few years is a hive of activity again, and I remember driving in there about 3-4 years ago, and a 'white hat' staffer telling me that they were about to start up in a few weeks.... Did some reading up on MCR and looked around the other facilities including the concentrator where I used to work, before venturing underground as a peggy and operator.....What re sold me on MCR was the word put out, by them, on the HIGH quality of the ore to be mined and blended from North and Casini, with open opinion of how superior it was to ores mined, say in Indonesia..... SO, they surely would have known at the time that there was an Arsenic issue, but were openly selling the whole show as a superior ore body in both areas, were they not?? Bit too much ducks and drakes going on here, and I did wonder why certain people moved on, when Lo,,, it was all about to come to productive and profitable fruition.... It just seems all a bit too coincidental, this conglomeration of factors all coinciding together at this time..... Especially when it was marketed as such high quality ore from both areas..... Last thing, in the six months I worked at the concentrator for WMC, before going to the "big money" underground, there was always a pervasive smell of arsenic, like concentrated almonds throughout that facility. It is obviously a component of the leaching process or what ever, but never thought of it a bogie man in the scheme of nickel production... Left mining after a few years and worked in a completely different professional field, so never went into the technicalities of production. However, always respected the hard working capabilities of those involved at the coal face, literally. The stope and jumbo miners, heavy vehicle operators, the guidance of the 'white hats', seems my 'love' of the industry might have lead me back to a bit of a lemon if this all goes further south. Sorry about the rant, just disappointment that the shining light may have been apparently tarnished. Maybe the big timers just always win, that too?
MCR Price at posting:
$1.40 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
