On May 20, Ecuador-focused copper and gold mining company SolGold (OTCPK:SLGGF) released the published the results of the long-awaited preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the Alpala copper/gold/silver deposit at the Cascabel project, in northern Ecuador. The study estimated a start-up capital expenditure of $2.4-billion to $2.8-billion, which the company considers low, and a net present value ranging from $4.1-billion to $4.5-billion at an 8% discount. Kudos for SolGold for using a discount rate of 8%, when most mining companies usually use 5%, but I think that the net present value is too optimistic