Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat: What’s your opinion about Excelsior Mining? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

A: Excelsior Mining, $1.15, symbol MIN on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 206.3 million; Market cap: $237.2 million; www.excelsiormining.com), is focused on bringing its Gunnison copper project in Cochise County, Arizona, to production. The company believes that it will soon have all required permits in place to begin construction. It continues to work with the federal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on obtaining an Underground Injection Control (UIC) permit. That’s the last of three key operating permits Gunnison needs. The project is located between the two small Arizona cities of Benson and Wilcox, 65 miles southwest of Tucson. Ideally, the deposit is best mined using open-pit methods. But removing rock above the deposit—what’s called the mine’s “overburden”—would cause significant local disruption. As a result, Excelsior plans to use in-situ mining. In situ, or “in the natural or original position,” mining seeks to remove mineral ore from right where it sits. That’s the opposite of removing large amounts of rock and earth above and around the…