"do you think the oldtimers left much behind? and do you think...

"do you think the oldtimers left much behind? and do you think its possible to haul ore out at low grades and be profitable.....NO."

Here are a couple of points:
- The old timers considered grades of 12g/t as too low to be bothered with, this can be seen by RoD closure at that time. Today above 4g/t is profitable as seen with A1 mine.
- Austar has recent discovered a previously unknown ore body and if that can net $10m, that is the decline that would significantly enhance mine output would be paid for.
- Then there is the RoD mine which is really the jewel of the acquisition.

So your points have merit, but there are solutions and much more to the picture.