WISDOM, BEAVERHEAD, MT Updated Sunday, February 9, 2014 Snowfall Elevation: 6060 feet Snowfall: 6.0 inches Snow Depth: 15.0 inches Weather Conditions in Wisdom, MT Current Weather: Overcast Temperature: 25°F Feels Like: 25°F
I agree and was also a holder back in the 13p days. This is worth keeping an eye on and as you point out the beauty here is we know nothing should happen pre melt (late March), so time to wait before jumping in. For those who are unaware the mine is underground but the location of the mines makes the site unworkable during the winter months. GLA to all current holders lets hope this will be a star performer later this year.
snow only 16ft deep this year so we can mine from late March?
it makes no difference what the silver price is until the snow melts. Even then we have heard it all before. I can't see this going anywhere pre April but you never know. GL
Well before losing any serious amount. It's not I don't trust them it's more the reason for such a delay? Mining issues? Finance? Weather? Who knows
We can all see the deal here loads of high grade, the mill, further extensions great but......here comes the winter and the snow. We may see an update pre winter it may take the sp up but with a 4/5mth shutdown it won't take long to drop
nice to see new guys here but look back to last year and read what they said. Q1 2013 was going to be up and running yet here we sit Q4 with no sign. Even if they do start production in a couple of weeks they are going to have to stop due to the weather and reopen back in March.
where is production? Either they are having issues or they are stockpiling the silver ready for the mill. If it is the former we have issues with the weather drawing in as frosty suggested.
the only issue I see here is why have we not had an update on production? Q1 then Q2 we should be seeing some silver by now unless they have hit a snag. Lets hope not. :)
it traced the price of silver buddy.
yes they are.
Not sure if you can say hunting around with a drill for oil in Somalia is anything similar to having a silver mine in the US with historic workings. Yes PL is involved but that's it.
Black Mountain is thus an interesting, but very risky, small silver mining play – with 2 mines operating it is looking to produce some 1.7 million ounces of silver equivalent a year at a cash cost of around $8-10 an ounce, which would give it a margin of around $12 an ounce at current silver prices if this can be achieved – a little less if ongoing exploration costs and sustaining capital are taken into account. It is trying to keep its capital structure tight with 86 million shares in issue and 38 million options due at A$0.2 by May 2015. 47% of the stock is held by eight major shareholders. If the silver price moves up and results are as the company hopes, the leverage is high, but if silver falls back further from its current levels, or the grades and tonnages expected are just not there, then the prospects become far less certain. What Black Mountain (which is ASX and LSE AIM listed) offers is a pretty high risk and low cost investment option, with its longer term future very much dependent on the silver price, the delineation of new resources, metallurgy and whether the historic resource assessments are indeed matched by reality. Management does seem intent on keeping capital costs as low as possible which means the company would not be overburdened with debt needing to be paid off and substantially diluting early stage earnings assuming New Departure can indeed provide these.
It has the prospect of initially mining the reckoned-to-be extremely high grade Bonanza zone where the ore is said to run at 60-80 oz/tonne, which would give it a big cashflow kick, but the overall ore grade would only be around a quarter of this when the main ore horizon is reached. There is, however, always a danger when working on such 'historic' resource estimates that they don’t meet current assessment standards, but could prove to be substantially lower. The company is also planning to assess the old mine tailings dumps with a view to blending material from these in with the hoped-for ultra high grades from some of the ore shoots. Black Mountain says it has access to the geologist who last assessed the New Departure resource back in the in the late 1990s. To keep costs low, Black Mountain is using contract miners and will have the New Departure ore custom milled in one of two 'local' mills which are said to have plenty of capacity which would keep toll milling costs low, although details on this are a little sketchy, and there was no information given on any metallurgical testing. If all goes to plan, New Departure could produce 350,000 oz silver in the current year rising to 1 million ounces next year, generating cashflow. The second project, Conjecture, in neighbouring Idaho, is considered perhaps the better of the two properties and, at the moment, the timing of first production there is uncertain, except it is projected by the company to be in the third quarter of the current year. Some uncertainty lies in whether Black Mountain will seek funds to put it in production (around $4million only) which would probably lead to an admittedly fairly minor, dilution of its stock, or develop it out of hoped-for cash flow from New Departure. The latter would probably delay the project by one to two months, and assumes New Departure performs as suggested. Conjecture also has the option of milling its own ore at the nearby Lakeview mill, also controlled by Black Mountain and which would require some refurbishment to bring up to speed. Landau talks about running a conveyor from mine to mill – a distance of about 3 km, although the company presentation suggests ore would likely be trucked there, at least in the beginning assuming it goes for the mill upgrade. Toll milling in that area also remains a possible option – trucking high grade ore to other mills in the area should not add significantly to costs, although the added cost of custom milling the ore depends on what kind of deal can be negotiated and capacity availability. What particularly attracts Black Mountain to Conjecture, the company says, is its existing infrastructure, its reported reasonably high grades and its unproven long term potential. It overlies the unmined Revett formation which has been a major source of silver in the nearby Coeur d’Alene district although is yet to be tested at Conjecture The geologist who oversaw the most recent resourc
The next U.S. silver mine will be located in Montana, not far from the state’s border with Idaho and in a major historic silver producing area. Indeed, according to the company involved, Black Mountain Resources’ chairman, Peter Landau, speaking in London yesterday, first production will start up from the company’s New Departure property within the next few weeks. Black Mountain owns a 70% majority stake in three silver properties in the Montana/Idaho border area, all based around old silver mines in districts where the low silver prices in the 1980s led to most of those still in production then being forced to close. It is concentrating on two of these – New Departure and Conjecture, the latter being close to Coeur d’Alene in Idaho – and says it is working towards bringing both of these mines into production this year. The third property, Tabor, also has potential, but is very much on hold pending results from the first two mines that Black Mountain is developing and on the performance of the silver price. What the company emphasises is that the cost of bringing these operations into production is very low – less than $10 million - and grades are high offering a potentially rapid payback if all goes well. The resources the company quotes are historic – it does not have an NI 43-101 or JORC compliant resource for them which will raise some flags and means it is moving forwards on something of a wing and a prayer, but is proceeding nonetheless pointing out that developing such resource estimates on high grade vein deposits of this type requires a huge amount of drilling and can be very expensive, detracting from the overall value of what, on the current historic resources could be relatively short life operations. It does note though that the limited exploration work it has been doing supports the historic resource assessments. Overall the company reckons to have a total resource across the three properties of 14.5 million ounces of silver equivalent at a grade of around 600 g/tonne (18.6 oz/tonne) New Departure’s life based on the 'historic' resource would only be about 4 years, but the company says there are already indications that this could be extended; perhaps doubled or more, but again few concrete details are available yet.
http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/en/mineweb-silver-news?oid=193521&sn=Detail From Friday 07th June
Again in the coming weeks sub 10p is a bargain. This coul be 25p+ by the end of the year provided both silver and production don't slip further.
Appointment of Mining Contractor at New Departure Silver Project Black Mountain Resources Limited (ASX | AIM: BMZ), the silver focused development company with interests in the US, is pleased to announce the appointment of United Mine Services Inc. (`UMS'), a subsidiary of TSX listed United Silver Corporation (`USC'), as Mining Contractor for the New Departure Silver Project located in Montana, USA. This appointment marks a significant milestone for the Company as it rapidly progresses towards commencing production from this project, which management expect in the coming weeks. UMS has a strong understanding of the region having worked on major projects including USC's Crescent Mine, US Silver & Gold Inc's Galena Mine and Hecla Mining Company's Lucky Friday Mine in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District (Silver Valley). The appointment of UMS as the mining contractor will enable operations at New Departure to run at full capacity in line with its targeted production levels of between 200-250 tonnes per day. UMS has already mobilised on site with the integration proceeding smoothly and productivity has already increased significantly with additional crews scheduled to commence over the coming week. Importantly, UMS will utilise its own equipment on site, which will ensure the project's capital expenditure is minimised. Black Mountain Executive Chairman, Peter Landau, commented, "The appointment of UMS as mining contractor brings us one step closer to commencing high grade silver production at New Departure in Montana over the next few weeks. UMS has mobilised both equipment and personnel on site and we are confident that our operations will benefit from improved efficiency and capital expenditure, providing further upside to the New Departure Project during this period of rapid development and value accretion." For and on behalf of the Board
I know buddy one day lol. I have over 12k in there but it is a frustrating share given the NAV v Mcap your having a decent start to the year wish I was just paid tax man off but have more outgoings than incomings this year with different stuff. GL