Having written many JORC reports on tropical Laterites from New Caledonia to Sulawesi and Guyana I can tell you that the moistures are quite high 30% - more usually 40% plus. This is the basis for WMT.
This is particuallry the case in the Saporolite. Stockpiling in small piles to allow sun drying does give some reduction but then its subject to atmospheric moisture. Some producers went as far as covered stockpiles but thsi is expensive.
It became a not rare event to lose vessels of Sulawesi because of cargo liquefaction. There was a degree of persuasion applied to ships captians to accept cargoes over the shipping limit.
Samples form boreholes do need to be dried and then oven dried before analysis. the analysis is usually given on a dry basis not wet.
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