"Any ideas out there what the capital expenditure required to get this ball rolling and to break soil? Besides environmental permitting are there any obstacles to prevent ground breaking this year?"

Well I guess you could say...anything attached to it....such as funding, people dragging their feet, the decision to take another tack, testing and procedures that take more time than accounted for, crew/equipment availability/, market crashes. It might be more appropriate just to think of all of your combined experiences that ever went to plan or schedule.....and in the mining business, for me, that would be just about zero in every experience I can think of. If it's on time it's a gift. The complexity of this industry is mind boggling and the number of people/organizations involved is legion, the most problematic likely being government. If one is in a hurry one will usually be frustrated.