Just to but in , I would think it wiser to build the smelter in...

Just to but in , I would think it wiser to build the smelter in Manaus , decent sized city already in the middle of the Amazon jungle guessing 250 kms North of Tres Estados mine site  with plenty of LNG for fuel or alternatively use an electric furnace . To cross all the T's and dot the i's personally doubt they will be pilot smaltering before August next year at anything over 5 tonnes of ore a day  , but welcome to be proven wrong

The pilot smaltering seems just a small  upscale of what they are currently doing so relatively low tech risk , and would hopefully provide cash,flow given the plus oz a tonne Au grade (excluding other PGMs )  , what would be nice if they could get some type of hydro met leaching  or concentration process working on the mine site to reduce the logistics needed in shipping ore .

Maybe they could in the interim experiment with  flash or continuous smaltering ?

http://www.isasmelt.com/en/download/TechnicalPapersIsasmelt/XTpaper_Mopani_MSUPyromet05.pdf

AIMHO