KWG's Hodgman = 'So it is the only feasible corridor because it has the high ground'
Apparently that is a false statement based on desire and not feasibility. Coutts must have been very polite to point it out delicately.

“It’s a very, very rich deposit" so finally you all have it from the horse's ( Coutts') mouth.
So why the concern about the price of any of the metals in that ore? I say much ado about trivia.
I only say that there is not much gold there so mention of it is mostly a psychological ploy, Pt and Pd are the PMs that are worth it.

So concentrate about the road, governments, natives, future railway and cooperation between the miners.

Coutts feels that the road is not an IF but a When, so again take that and run with it.

Cheer up and prosperous fortune to all. Ed.