The updated
DFS Mill and flotation rates at 93% while a high cut off of 10% was chosen....While quality is a consideration in strip Ratio if a deposit contains low grade ore more of it must be mined in order to achieve a return on investment. A higher grade deposit can support a higher strip ratio. There is an inverse relationship between deposit grade and strip ratio.. The higher the grade inversely reduces the capex and Run of mine cost's. The previous DFS demonstrated a higher strip ratio at 3.3:1 That's 4.3 ton's of dirt shoveled for 1 ton of feed grade that goes through the plant.
Iron ore contributes to the understanding and differentials of low strip ratio's as apposed to high strip ratio's from one type of ore to another. A strip ratio, or stripping ratio is an important measurement related to the
open-pit mine process.It represents the amount of waste material also known as overburden,that must be moved in order to extract a given amount of ore.
(From copper investing news)
The density of ore is different from one type of ore to another...and to what effect does this have on plant size.
The density of Iron ore is 7.86 grams per per cubic center meter. The density of graphite is 2.66 grams per cubic center meter. Expand them out to 1 cubic meter in weight.
- Iron ore 7.86 ton per cubic meter of Iron ore
- Graphite 2.66 ton per cubic meter of Graphite
At a the most basic,
strip ratio's can be calculated by dividing over burden thickness by ore thickness. For example ,an over burden thickness of 100 meters and an ore thickness of 50 meters would yield a strip ratio of 2:1 That means mining 1 cubic meter of ore would require mining 3 cubic meters of over burden.
For instance, a project with a very high strip ratio likely will not be profitable.That's because a high strip ratio mean's that the unwarranted material is much greater than the amount of ore that can potentially be extracted,making it expensive to mine. Conversely a project with a low strip ratio will probably have good prospects for profitability.
Why do low strip ratios benefit's and Hi NPV become confused when we are talking graphite...?
The grade largely effects and changes the dynamics of open pit mining for graphite. Lower density equals more tons mined to produce a ton of feed grade. Lower grade equals more tons through plant for same output. Capex cost of plant is drastically increased.
Lindi has the lowest capital cost per ton mined with highest margin curve.
SYR success funding is a contributor to the myth that high NPV projects are the optimum for start up projects in graphite. In order for this to be true
High NPV projects require enough demand in the market place to justify the benefits. Currently this is not the case while getting to market early does have advantages from growing into known markets with certainty...
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To take another man's wise words... NPV
calculation is treated as a math problem: find the point that maximizes NPV while ignoring all other factors..
Croc riding a Bull...