With that line of thought, I wonder how much has been spent in total over the years on exploration drilling, defining the resource and finally quantifying it all with the upcoming Micon reports. Money that someone else won't have to spend.

I bet there are majors sitting back letting little guys like us discover and prove up ore bodies they will eventually buy as they seek out feed stock for their mills. We all recall Xstrata saying they wish to boost output by 50% going forward. If that is a plan at Kidd Creek, how can that happen with Montcalm indefinitely closed? Just thinking out loud here.

Lastly we are not a Laterite based Nickel play. With our strong possiblity of being an Sulphide type open pit as well as below ground mine, we should be quite attractive when those reports do get out...imho.

http://www.resourceintelligence.net/cheaper-to-buy-bhp-mine-than-build/4908

"Resource News

‘Cheaper’ to buy BHP mine than build

First Quantum Minerals Ltd. believes it has a cost advantage over mining behemoth BHP Billiton PLC as it buys the much larger companies Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Western Australia.

“There is no doubt that this was an opportunistic situation,” said Philip Pascall, chief executive, on a conference call with analysts yesterday. “We were able to acquire a plant for considerably less capital costs than we would have had building it ourselves.”

Vancouver-based First Quantum agreed on Tuesday to buy the giant mine from BHP for US$340-million, a fraction of the multibillion cost to build it.

Mr. Pascall said BHP’s costs were high because it “tended to have extra people involved” when doing relatively simple tasks.

“The shift supervisor, for example, cannot stop some part of the process and clean the outside tank or a pipeline without getting a permit,” he said of the mining giant’s procedures. “BHP procedure required on each shift, for example, five people on site. So not only [did that] add to that number of people, but it also inhibited the capacity of the operation guys actually to move forward.”

He added that the cost of those plants to BHP was about 10 times what First Quantum has paid for it.

BHP booked a one-time charge of US$3.6-billion in the 12 months through June for closing the mine. BHP in November 2008 cited changes to the rate of production ramp-up and projected future capital costs at Ravensthorpe, as well as the drop in prices, for the charges.

First Quantum also said it has a technical advantage in mining lateritic nickel, which has a similar mining process to copper. The company is an acknowledged expert in African copper production and produced more than 300,000 tonnes of copper in 2008, a one-third increase from 2007.

“We had experience handling copper at Bwana Mkubwa and based on our experience, we believe we have the right expertise to handle this form of nickel,” Mr. Pascall said.

Some analysts didn’t share First Quantum’s confidence.

A TD Newcrest analyst report said investors could take a dim view of the investment in Ravensthorpe mainly because its management has a well-earned reputation for building projects quickly and inexpensively, rather than acquiring assets built by others.

In addition, analysts from UBS Investment Research and TD Newcrest said that the technical and financial risks associated with laterite nickel projects are high and operating costs could be an overhang on the company’s stock for some time.

Mr. Pascall said it would take about 18 months to achieve 70% of the production envisioned by BHP, at which point Ravensthorpe would be cash flow-positive.

He said the acquisition was a rare opportunity to fix a well-conceived plant…read more at the Financial Post