I think there is lots of confusion on this forum about tungsten deposits. Let's say I know more than most about them. I also read the scientific literature. I have been to mines.
Mt Carbine It's a scheelite-wolframite vein deposit. As such, grades then to be relatively high, but tonnage are not huge. The fact that it has a 400 m decline, but no underground mining of significance took place before closure, is a huge bonus. The old operator would have never spent a fortune for a decline without a proven reserve. It is likely that areas surrunding the mine probably have some more ore bodies.
KIS If anybody has been there, he will understand. I went there long time ago. The open pit was mined out 30 year ago or so. The underground mine, which went under the ocean, probably contains some ore, but it is tricky to expand. The deposit is a scheelite skarn, so low grade, high tonnages. There could be other orebodies outside the old pit, but they need to be proven up. I doubt there is lots of underground potential there.
MacTung It is a skarn deposit, like CanTung, which in its time was the largest tungsten mine in the Western World. MacTung is not far from the Artic, so an open pit cannot operate 12 months a year. It is located in a very difficult area in the Rockies. The tonnages were huge, but the grades low. KIS had better grades, but lower tonnages then MacTung.
Comparing Mt Carbine to KIS or MacTung is geologically wrong.
Maybe people on here should become familiar with some geology related to mineral deposits so there would be less arguments, most of them very futile.
BIG Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
