Ann: Gold Resources Increase by 45% to 4.7million, page-13

re: Ann: Gold Resources Increase by 45% to 4.... The size of the resource upgrade is certainly impressive and with the total resource approaching 5Moz it's getting into 'elephant' territory.

The question which I have, and which has prevented me from buying into ALD long term (have been in and out a few times over the last few years with some success), is how much of this resource will ever prove to be recoverable?

The issues as I see them are;
1. The grade of the sulphides looks marginal; if the ore is highly refractory then I would say that the current grades 1-2g/t are probably uneconomic(?)
2. I note that the resource extends to 250m below sea level. I'm not entirely familiar with the lay of the land but I would imagine that there would be significant geotech stability issues for an open pit to this depth and underground mining would probably not be possible given the grades. The question then, is how much of it can actually be accessed?

I would be interested in hearing comments from anyone more familiar with the project then myself as to whether these concerns are founded or not particularly as to whether the sulphides are refractory (and to what extent)