Texasgulf Inc. and Subsidiaries, as Successor in Interest to Texasgulf Inc. and Subsidiaries - Page 6

                                        - 6 -                                         

          refining.  Milling is the process of separating waste rock from             
          ore, generally through chemical treatment, to produce “concen-              
          trate”.  Copper concentrate, for example, is approximately 20-25            
          percent copper.  A mill or concentrator is built at or near                 
          virtually every mine in Ontario.                                            
               Smelting is the process of converting concentrate into a               
          relatively pure product.  A copper smelter, for example, produces           
          about 99 percent pure copper.                                               
               Refining is the process of producing pure metal from smelted           
          product by heat-induced chemical reactions, electrolytic methods,           
          solvent extraction, hydro metallurgical methods, or                         
          vapometallurigical methods.                                                 
               It is rare for a mining company to buy mineral property                
          outright in Ontario.  For this reason, Ontario mining companies             
          typically do not incur high costs to acquire reserves and,                  
          consequently, do not have high cost depletion.                              
               Small entities called junior exploration companies do much             
          of the exploring for new mining properties in Ontario.                      
          Typically, junior exploration companies do not have enough                  
          financial resources to produce the ore they find.  The junior               
          company, once it has identified a body of ore, usually enters               
          into an agreement with an established producer under which the              
          producer does additional work on the property in exchange for an            
          ownership interest in it.  If the additional work by the senior             





Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011