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A shortage of equipment and supplies could adversely affect our ability to operate our business.
We depend on various supplies and equipment to carry out our exploration and, if warranted, future
development and mining operations. A shortage of such supplies, equipment or parts could have a material adverse
effect on our ability to carry out our planned activities or increase our operating costs and expenses.
Mineral exploration and development and mining are potentially hazardous and subject to conditions or
events beyond our control, which could have a material adverse effect on our business or plans.
Mineral exploration and development and mining involve various types of risks and hazards, including:
environmental hazards;
power outages;
metallurgical and other processing problems;
unusual or unexpected geological formations;
personal injury, flooding, fire, explosions, cave-ins, earthquakes, landslides and rock-bursts;
mineral exploration or mining accidents;
concentrate losses;
fluctuations in exploration, development and production costs;
labor disputes;
unanticipated variations in grade;
mechanical equipment failure;
periodic interruptions due to inclement or hazardous weather conditions; and
regulatory curtailments or shutdowns.
These risks could result in damage to, or destruction of, mineral properties, production equipment, facilities or other
properties, personal injury, environmental damage, delays in mining, increased production costs, monetary losses or
possible legal liability. We may not be able to obtain insurance to cover these risks at economically feasible
premiums or at all. Insurance against certain environmental risks, including potential liability for pollution or other
hazards as a result of the disposal of waste products occurring from production, may be prohibitively expensive or
not available. We may suffer a material adverse effect on our business if we incur losses related to any significant
events that are not covered by insurance policies.
Mineral exploration and development is highly speculative, and certain inherent risks could have a negative
effect on our business.
Our long-term success depends on our ability to develop mineral deposits on existing properties that can
then be developed into commercially viable mining operations. Resource exploration is a highly speculative
business, characterized by a number of significant risks, including, among other things, unprofitable efforts resulting
not only from the failure to discover mineral deposits but from finding mineral deposits which, though present, are
insufficient in quantity and quality to return a profit from production. Substantial expenditures are required to
establish Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves through drilling and analysis, to develop metallurgical processes to
extract metal, and to develop the mining, beneficiation and processing facilities and infrastructure at any site chosen
for mining. The marketability of minerals discovered by us may be affected by numerous factors that are beyond
our control and cannot be accurately predicted, such as market pricing fluctuations, the proximity and capacity of
milling facilities, mineral markets demand, available supply and processing equipment, and other factors such as
government regulations, including regulations relating to royalties, allowable production, importing and exporting of
minerals, and environmental protection. Any one or a combination of these factors may result in a failure to receive
an adequate return on our investment capital. The decision to abandon a project may have an adverse effect on the
market value of our common shares or our ability to complete future financings.