After meeting with a potential investor, the above is still an option. There is also another option, a new crawler loader. We can get a brand new John Deere 655c for somewhere around $180,000. This is from the dealer with a full warranty and they even have their own airplane for warranty work in the bush. Operating this type of machine would be somewhat familiar to us compared our jd350. This would be a one machine operation until such a time that we might add a backhoe to tend the washplant. A big concern here is there doesn't seem to be many of these machines out there and we would have to buy it sight unseen. Also, the resale value is very low on similar low hour machines. I wonder why? There is also the option of going with the 655k which has tier 4 emissions and costs a bit more. The guys at the Cat dealer wouldn't give us much information on the 953 and instead thought that we should buy a skidsteer for 100,000 from off the lot. The 655c would mean it would take more gold to break even, but perhaps breaking even would be more fun and in a similar time frame when compared to the backhoe idea. A new John Deere 710 is getting quite close to the price of a 655 In the end, the goal is to pay off the investor in gold and end up with the equipment and to continue mining. New equipment didn't used to be an option, but when working with an investor, the idea is to reduce risk everywhere we can. That John Deere extended warranty and an airplane is very attractive compared to slightly used, but hiring a mechanic, and missing part of the short season. Not much info on here about the 655c and 655cII and 655k. They sure look like awesome machines!
