I believe that they're at least a year out from proving commercial success, and knowing the rate of patent processing, probably a year for that too.

I believe that a bulk sample is required for testing commercial success. I seem to remember hearing that the amount of ore needed was just a staggering amount, something like 10,000 tons? I might be off by a decimal point there, but I seem to remember thinking that this was a couple hundred truckloads. With no road into the area, it's going to be pretty difficult to get a couple hundred truckloads out. Hovercraft are a possibility, but I've worked with them before and I couldn't imagine the headaches that would be involved for that distance with that tonnage. Helicopters are expensive! Even some of the machines like the Kmax that is used in some heli logging usually only carries a maximum payload of three to six tons. There are bigger machines available, but what kind of containers would be used to sling out that much ore?

My guess is that a winter road will need to go in first to facilitate the extraction of enough ore for a commercialization test similar to what has been discussed. Unfortunately, I'm only privy to bits and pieces here and there, so I don't have any first-hand knowledge of what's happening.

Perhaps someone who is on a phone-call basis with the company could call and ask exactly what's involved with this project? Or perhaps someone could suggest that Frank cover the logistics in an upcoming interview?