Actually that was not the objective at the time the pfs for Productora came up short at current copper prices and life of mine (11 years) so the objective was Valentina and San Antonio both small high grade satelites to help with mill throughput and grade then came Cortadera also believed to be a supplement to Productora to help with critical mass and costs.
But by mid 2019 it was becoming clear that Cortadera was not going to be a supplement but would be bigger than Productora then the objectives had to change and so did time lines.
Then Tarus kept selling the stock down into news they had been a major holder that bought back in 2011 or so with a caveat they could not sell their shares for x amount of years. They did this so they could buy back cheap at Capital Raises which meant every effort CE did to raise SP was undone and greater dilution .
Then what happened in early 2020 ? That's right covid shut down the world. Next riots in Chilie an election of left government and rewriting of the constitution with the treat of nationalising of mines ( but hay let's plough ahead with a 1.3 b project with a deposite we may loose)
Then event after event Russia, inflation, interest rates, China covid zero policy ( biggest user of copper shut down factories) talk of recession biggest risk to copper prices.
Your comment
"The broader market hasn't been buying the CE story for a long time- not just a few bitter holders on HC. Go figure why"
Perhaps you would like to take a look at Solgold cu equivalent of like 12mt or so was trading at SP 60 plus a year ago SP30 and below now I guess its their bad management too.
There is plenty of information available that will tell you it takes 12 to 20 years to develop a mine ( and getting longer) from discovery so your 5 year time line from starting to drill Cortadera in 2019 to being in production is clearly misguided and that is without all the unforeseen delays.
HCH Price at posting:
99.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)