Hi all,Those that were worried about the cost of mining the...

Hi all,

Those that were worried about the cost of mining the alluvium should take note of page 5 of the Crossland Investor presentation where it states:

'Wet plant concentrate (HMC) grades that are 2%-12% TREO before the mine gate, grades that are comparable to leading hard rock REE projects, but at a much lower cost per tonne of ore;'

Quite simply, the extraction of one tonne of ore with grades of 2%-12% is cheaper to mine than one tonne of ore from a hard rock mine. As stated on page 8:

'Grade average of ROM is 0.03% TREO but product at mine gate is 2-12%; reached with significantly lower costs compared to hard rock REE mines due to low extraction and wet plant concentration costs.'

CUX is estimating, subject to confirmation of the scoping study, that total cost of extraction and wet procesing to be in the order of ~$4/tonne.

Therefore, to mine and produce a mine gate ore of 2.1% from a .03% ore would be in the order of $280/tonne. Remembering it is the equivilent of being crushed and taking ~$70/tonne crushing costs that equates to $210/tonne mining costs for the ore compared with the same grade of ore from a hard rock mine.

CUX is also optimising the definition of the alluvium fan resource between Jan - April 2013 to select start up areas. Therefore, it will be probable that the ore grade initially will be in excess of .03% and/or be higher in the average stated for xenotime.

Further, it would appear that the xenotime and mozanite is already liberated by the erosion process, which it appears it is not in hard rock resources. (page 5)

It should be noted also that 'There are over 2,000square Kilometres of potentially mineralised alluvial outwash within ... Charlie Creek' (page 8)

I believe I heard in the presentation that CUX was planning to mine 1 square mile for each mine site which would require mining for a period of four years. Maybe 'Out Cold' could confirm if I heard this correctly. But if I am correct that is 781 mine site each durable for four years. What I am alluding to is the CUX resource has a mine life of centuries.

Geoff Eupene also said these 'Vast alluvial flats are cheap & easy to rehabilitate'. This bodes well for the EIS. (page9)

May I suggest that the presentation is worth a listen for those who are considering a rare earth investment.

Cheers


PS 'Out Cold' don't forget to contact me.