Yes that is a stupid question. The ore is double refractory with...

Yes that is a stupid question. The ore is double refractory with sulphides and organic carbon.

As for NST, that's what bubbles do. The rising Australian gold price is driving that bubble higher at the moment but reality dictates that they can't sustain a PE of +35. The higher margins can reduce that PE going forward but NST face a massive task of replacing reserves year on year and keeping costs under control.

Also look at the contribution that the EKJV made to the production in the last 6 months. Using TBR/RND quarterlies @Undaunted estimated the contribution made by the 100% NST operations at Kalgoorlie and said

"Difficult to compare apples in the respective quarterlies but I estimate NST's other Kalgoorlie operations mined 612,000t at 2.7 g/t in the Dec quarter. Not pretty."

I'd need to go through and check this calculation but last time I did the sums NST's share of the EKJV contributed +$1 billion to their market capitalistaion but in Novemeber last year BB stated in a public announcement that a 49% share in this JV was fair and sensibly valued at $150 million. Now there are only two implications that can be taken away from this statement. One is that the statement is true and the market is overvaluing that asset by more than $850 million which makes one shutter at the thought of what the laggard 100% NST mines at Kalgoorlie might be valued at (remember their Dec quarter AISC as a group was higher than that of RSG at A$1,406/oz) or two, the statement is false and the company mislead the market making that statement in a public announcement.
That Kalgoorlie Dec quarter AISC number would be looking even sicker if we rewound the clock back only 2 to 3 months when gold was trading around A$1,660/oz.

When you give over 60% of a company's share register to bankster nominee accounts, like NST have done, that's just what they like to make, bubbles. Bubbles are the fasted way to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich. The superannuation fund managers will continue to pay higher and higher prices until one day when reality bites the poor blind people that sit at home with no clue of what equity markets are or how they are fleeced for benefit of a small few find that their pockets have been raided by those same managers in fees, while their stockholdings come screaming back to earth. This won't just happen for NST but markets that are bubbles. Esh