heap leaching ...

On the 22nd. February AYN told us there is about "400,000oz of recoverable silver now stockpiled on Leach Pads 2 and 3."

In order to understand AYN's 22nd. February "Operations and Production Update" imo we need to have at least a basic understanding of heap leaching.

"Heap leaching

Heap leaching is an industrial mining process to extract precious metals, copper, uranium, and other compounds from ore....

Process

The mined ore is usually crushed into small chunks and heaped on an impermeable plastic and/or clay lined leach pad where it can be irrigated with a leach solution to dissolve the valuable metals. While sprinklers are occasionally used for irrigation, more often operations use drip irrigation to minimize evaporation, provide more uniform distribution of the leach solution, and avoid damaging the exposed mineral. The solution then percolates through the heap and leaches both the target and other minerals. This process, called the "leach cycle," generally takes from one or two months for simple oxide ores (e.g., most gold ores) to two years (for nickel laterite ores). The leach solution containing the dissolved minerals is then collected, treated in a process plant to recover the target mineral and in some cases precipitate other minerals, and then recycled to the heap after reagent levels are adjusted. Ultimate recovery of the target mineral can range from 30% of contained (run-of-mine dump leaching sulfide copper ores) to over 90% for the easiest to leach ores (some oxide gold ores)."

At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heap_leaching

Now with the above knowledge in mind, I wonder how you view the 22nd. February "Operations and Production Update" ASX announcement.

Here is some of it:

"Key Points:

· Stacking of Leach Pad 3 now underway after delays due to continued heavy February rainfall

· Production rates in excess of 3,100oz per day have been achieved

· Company on track for steady-state operations during Q3 2012 despite delays with crushing circuit and recent rain events

· ~400,000oz of recoverable silver now stockpiled on Leach Pads 2 and 3...

The recent heavy rains in south-east Queensland have caused delays to the completion of Leach Pad 3, which was expected to be in production in January and forecast to significantly increase production levels for the March 2012 Quarter. It is now anticipated that production will commence from this pad by late March....

While the operation has recently achieved production rates in excess of 3,100oz of silver per day, there has been a slower than anticipated ramp-up in recovery rates. During this ramp-up period, the Company is continuing to undertake optimisation work on heap flow rates and reagent addition to maximise silver leaching kinetics from the heaps. This work, together with the commissioning of Leach Pad 3, should assist the Company in moving towards its goal of achieving consistent daily production of around 4,000oz of silver...."