They COULD end up building a steel plant at cwrn's mine-either the beneficiation plant mentioned by the Apr 13 PR.
Or IF the other concessions which Bob has been showing them provide a critical mass may be even build some other kind of plant .
Chinese are patient and thorough -they dont do things hastily. It does make sense to build a plant near where the natural resources are and where they sell many of their products-last ship Qin Hai had delivered finished steel products from Bao to LA.
As long as Mexican wages are not too much higher than Chinese wages-ouch! Though I'm sure Bao pays a lot higher wages than I saw on a recent Chinese factory documentary which mentioned factory wages of 6 cents /hr!
We hope to hear more about the drilling program mentioned in the Sept 2011 and April 2012 PR's also:
HOUSTON, TX--(Marketwire -04/13/12)- Cotton & Western Mining, Inc. (Pinksheets: CWRN.PK - News ) In 2011, Panamerican Minerals Ventures, S.A. de C.V. Mexico, the operators of the "Guadalupe Iron Mineral Concession," drilled three deep conformation holes 300 meters apart in the center line of the 1,500 meter long Coloso Iron Mineral Vein, (one of four major iron mineral veins located on the concession); the purpose of those drill-holes was to explore the depth of the Coloso Vein, since the original drill program of 68 holes was shallow at 20-meters depth. Drill-hole 69 at 44-meters revealed continuous iron minerals mixed Magnetite and Hematite down to an elevation point of 81-meters above sea level, where the drilling was suspended without punching through the iron minerals as the iron content became lower and the mineral became solid magnetite. Drill-hole 70 at 84-meters depth on the lower elevation of the concession revealed the same mineral structure as drill-hole 69, hitting iron mineral at 4-meters down and continuous to 84-meters where the drilling was suspended at 2-meters above sea level; the third Drill-hole number 71 at 54-meters depth revealed continuous magnetite as well, the drilling was suspended pending simulated concentration testing of the lower grade materials to better understand the percentage of Fe304 (Magnetite Iron Oxide) uplift that could be anticipated if the materials were processed through a series of beneficiations. Results from those analytical studies indicated that the iron minerals can be processed to a Grade-A iron mineral status. Management has been discussing the feasibility of building a concentration plant on site with the corporation of Bao Steel Group of China, provided that there is enough magnetite mineral reserve to justify the investment; therefore, the company has begun a series of new and deeper drilled-holes on a wide-area bases to establish parameters for an accurate calculation of available mineral reserves.
The company is continuously mining the near-surface iron minerals which require dry magnetic separation to achieve the clients specifications.
Other noteworthy news: the Company has contracted PowerScreen of California to build a heavy-duty 8ft x 30ft x 0.05mm cylindrical Trommel screening plant capable of screening out the small iron chips accumulated since the project went into production in November 2010. This equipment should be on-site and ready to begin processing a shipload of sinter fines within the next couple weeks. The balance of iron minerals less than 0.05mm in size shall be sold into the organic mineral fertilizer industry.
