Pit & Quarry, November 2015
Highbank is the only port to port supplier for hundreds of miles around that can also barge to Prince Rupert for onefifth of the cost of trucking per mile The trip to Prince Rupert takes about 10 hours but is still a significantly cheaper mode of transportation than trucking per mile Bryant says Currently we are not shipping offshore although we can modify our loadout to accommodate offshore vessels During the initial journey from Prince Rupert to Swamp Point North the tug and barge load manifest comprised two 350 Komatsu excavators and spare parts a f leeting barge loading system winch and controls diesel fuel additional spare parts for other equipment and general camp supplies to operate the site over the next few months he adds Highbank has indicated that it will commence a work program focusing on further site development as well as producing and stockpiling various sizes of construction aggregates in preparation for shipping An underdogs success The enthusiasm of Bryant and Shafransky as well as CFO Gary Musil is highly evident Musils continued determination to arrange financing was highlighted by completing a 4 million convertible debenture in 2014 to fund all necessary equipment and build the barge loading facility For Shafransky SPN is the story of the underdog succeeding the little guy winning against all odds It is the story of a junior miner accomplishing the impossible The odds of a junior miner finding a deposit that is economically viable are 500 to 1 meaning if you have 500 publicly traded junior mining companies only one will achieve commercial production Shafransky says Further for that junior miner to achieve production without joint venturing selling off control to a much larger company the odds are well over 1000 to 1 It just does not happen he adds Highbank broke the bank by accomplishing this milestone OPERATIONS Shafransky even strikes a Canadian note about the project Ten years Thats how long it took us We stayed the course eyes always on the goal Get er done its a Canuck thing P Q Michael Schwartz edited UK based mining magazines before moving to Canada where he is working as a freelance journalist SPN will entail both an aggregates operation and a deep water loadout terminal www pitandquarry com November 2015 PIT QUARRY 43
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