email from stb, page-6

I can't recall the geotechnical conditions of the deposit, but is thier even a need to be blast in the desert?
If the hardness of the ground is five tenths of bugger all, maybe the majority of it could be free digging at the appropriate angles of repose for highwalls etc (not that you need to go that high to tap something that's less than 150m below the surface level).
No blasting or minimal blasting is cheaper again, then again I highly doubt that Eritrea is as highly regulated as other countries with regard to explosives which takes away some of the cost and headache again.