Just a quick, very simplistic explanation of this mining plan...

Just a quick, very simplistic explanation of this mining plan point... then I'm gonna shut up guys. In the open pit, imagine a thin vertical line, which to get to the bottom; you need 45 degree wall angles. Everything surrounding the line across to the walls is just rock with no gold; and needs be removed (with roads etc installed), then replaced at the end. That's our 35:1 stripping ratio. Heaps and heaps of wastage in time and money and equipment, and which is why I am so impressed with our reserve being able to profit even a 35:1 ratio. So the profitibility using a better technique is very exciting.

The region is mostly oxidised and soft-rock. That generally means lots of cracks and faults and a good response to explosives with lots of small rocks and fines that will respond to gravity. The other adjacent mines already underground will provide a lot of mining expertise as to what levels respond to collapse etc in this geology. So the underground will likely respond to large quantity of ore being blown up from below then fall into the spaces beneath via funnels that are dug. Thats the VCR or Stoping methods that our guys will be evaluating as we speak.

The down side of this method is that you spend 6 months or more digging a winding access tunnels to the bottom before you start which is expensive and you have no cash flow until its complete. However we have shallow deposits adjacent in M1 and M3; and for the commencement of M5. So the plan will start some shallow open pit mining, while the vertical access tunnel are being built and the processing plants, to provide cashflow. I would expect it won't cover the costs (although it is possible), but will make financing easier... that will be known with the DFS.

This could likely be planned in less than a month. However we still have deep grades of gold that haven't been drilled to their extremeties, so WAF aren't allowed to report them by law as reserve, and need to ascertain the shape before deciding exactly the shape of this mine/s. That's what we are now waiting for. When they stop finding more gold (that's an OK reason for a delay right???), then they put all these guys listed in the Ann to work developing exactly how much mineral ore we remove to the square metre. That'll be 20 hour days for a month for the engineers!

Next is the part where us SHers start to count our returns!