I think some or much of the plant was built on the cheap and the breakdowns are the consequence of that. In addition there are some issues of plant design (IsaMill and other parts that needed changing) and a learning on the job on how to deal with the ore and plant.
BJ has been spread to thinly and did not bring together a group of key workers well in advance to ensure a relatively smooth ramp up. There are always issues along the way to production and it is not just the fault of Xstrata (which obviously has not been helpful otherwise they would have fixed the Isamill issue a lot earlier). I think some of the plant was made in Brazil, which was very cheap but possibly pretty low quality (just like so much of Chinese products used to be and to some extent still are).
Realistically I think BJ should come clean on all outstanding issues, and do a CR to shore up the company.
We will be lucky to be producing 1500 ounces of gold (plus 9x silver) per month in November and December.
Yeah I know the gold is still there and is worth a heap. I still believe that the Albion system can work, but the quality of the plant and some of the workforce are major issues adversely impacting on the delivery of the project.
loki
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