Geologists are human and make some mistakes just like the rest of us, but not on a continuing basis one would hope. There are many factors governing reconciliation of grades VS ounces produced. As jrock has stated, it only takes one mistake whether deliberate or accidental in the whole mining process to stuff things up, plus pressure from above to make things rosier than they are. Over promising by management to the higher echolons is common, another factor on two occasions that i am aware of is the type of mill used. Large amounts of visible gold is discovered,then seperately stockpiled on the ROM pad, its then blended with lower grade ore as mill feed. But if the mill hasnt got a gravity circuit then a large percentage of that gold ends up on the tailings dump. Open your mouth and point this out and the only thing you will recieve is, dont tell me how to do my job, get back to your lower station in life. So much easier to blame the Geo.
