Hi Yil.
I did not say they were not significant, just that the deposit is soon to be shut (though upon careful reading, it will likely only shut at the end of Dec, which is a slight extension, so might still add 6k ounces for the quarter, not an insignificant amount with Missouri higher grade open pit ore entering the plant). So, while the grades have been above the average coming from Riverina, that... was not hard considering its under-performed in grade (but... not actual ounces, as the gold is there).
The numbers have been provided to the market, though perhaps not exactly as you would like. I think its pretty clear they are putting higher grade ore in first, whilst stockpiling lower grade ore. From the Sept Q.
(( though to be clear, before the plant was turned on, OBM had stockpiled 93kt, at 1.3g/t, or 3,995 ounces. as below))
In the past 12 months, they have mined 51k ounces. Yet to date, only
Dec-20 - gold sold - None.
Mar-21 - gold sold - 3200 ounces (but... now had 1300 ounces in circuit + 6600 in stockpiles approx)
Jun-21 - gold sold - 10665 ounces
Sep-21 - gold sold - 13552 ounces
Total -27,417 ounces.
Total mined - 51,049. Basically, they have almost mined double the amount of gold sold. Another way of looking at it, is they have sunken huge $$ into the mining, like most companies have to during ramp up, except, the plant has not really kept up until perhaps now. Those sunken costs will slowly balance out all the upfront costs, giving OBM flexibility assuming they can simply get either more U/G ore, or... Missouri open pit performs as expected.
I do agree with you about the head grade perhaps not staying as high as it did in Oct (though... again, IF.. Missouri is meeting the DFS numbers, then.... the grade could/should actually improve. But... when they keep using Riverina ore, I doubt we will see it much higher). Though the quarterly mentions they moved staff to Missouri to focus on accessing ore there, so...
Considering OBM mined over 20k ounces in Sept. OBM seems to have changed its situation quite a bit from early on, when the plant was stuck chocking on clay, to now being, well, almost balanced. Just need the plant to hum, and keep mining 20k per quarter.
For what its worth, I stubbornly bought a few more today.
(20min delay)