But when they are mushed together, they will form a metallic bond. Makes sense because they're metals. And what's interesting about metallic bonds, I'll draw it down here, is that metals like to share their electrons with the other metals.
Along the way, a huge amount of investment is necessary (with no immediate return) due to the capital-intensive nature of the natural resource industry. Understandably, the vast majority of potential mines are not able to progress through the entire "Life Cycle" for varying reasons.
Once the company is confident in their direction, the final step in this phase is to stake prospective mineral licenses where one hopes to find an economic mineral deposit. Once mineral licenses have been secured, it's on to the exploration phase (also known as the "pre-discovery phase").
One can value mining development projects through risk-adujsted NPV analysis. From start to finish, it can take up to a decade to develop a producing mine from scratch.
When mineralization is intercepted, the press release will typically state something along the lines of "20m of 1.05% copper". Both the grade "1.05% copper" and the intercept length "20m" are of equal importance.
There are two steps in the exploration phase: (1) grassroots exploration and (2) exploration drilling. The main emphasis of grassroots exploration is to determine (in the least expensive manner possible) which areas of a mineral license are most likely host a deposit.
In the concept phase, the company is responsible for developing an exploration thesis and strategic plan of action. These theses will generally emphasize: (1) a particular geological location, (2) a particular commodity, or (3) a particular exploration method.
Before beginning construction, the junior miner in question must procure financing for their project's initial capex. This can be done in a number of manners - I will outline the most popular options below.