46 carats per tonne from the dump material is I think hugely better than anticipated, and makes all the back-of-the-envelope calculations look very juicy indeed!
Some decent-sized gems among 'em too!
Great work from the crew.
It's interesting that: "The only available mine records reflect that, in the period from 1977 to 1982, an estimated 50,000t of dump material was processed for an average recovered grade of 12 carats per tonne."
I believe it has been long suspected there was some under-reportage in the historical record, but this is looking really good.
Champing shareholders like me of course want it all done yesterday, but I actually do like the careful, systematic way they're approaching this - progressively locking-in all the plant design variables: crushing, screening, etc.
Typical Howard - economical, hard-headed and focussed on efficiency. I've no doubt this operation will come into being perfectly formed.
Results of the optical sorting trials will be interesting, having "the potential to significantly increase the processing rate, security and recovery rate of the recovery circuit, whilst reducing operating costs."
