just remember

From the Australian (Sept08) last year, but the numbers are still relevant!!

At a conservative forward copper price of, say, $US2.75 a pound, Tampakan's 660 million pounds of copper concentrate would generate $1.6 billion in revenue after smelting and refining charges. The gold credits would amount to $US200 million at, say, $US700 a ounce and the moly would add a further $US80 million or so to the revenue pot.

All up then, we are talking about a mine which, once its hits peak production, would generate revenues of about $US2 billion a year for at least 25 years.

Crucially, too, once it is built at a cost of upwards of $US3.9 billion of today's dollars, Tampakan is expected to be a relatively low-cost operation. Xstrata has said costs will run at something like US60c a pound but there is speculation now that the costs might ultimately come in at under US50c a pound. This means it will cost something just over $US300 million a year to earn $US2 billion of income.

The costs are low because Tampakan is at surface and then bores back into a hillside, rather like a mini-Bingham Canyon (which has been mined continuously for over 100 years by Rio Tinto and is arguably the biggest man-made hole in the world). Its strip ratios will be a relatively modest (for copper at least) 8.3-to-1.

Still buying with both hands!!!