Ann: Nifty Reset Plan, page-45

@2ic
Thanks very much for your detailed view of things. You may be right, and maybe they should be mothballing the project to conserve cash/produce profits, and wait for better conditions. But there are some reasons to consider that the reset plan is actually achievable as well.

There has been talk of the checkerboard working against productivity, and that once outside that area things improve. They reported the following in the Dec qly: "Mining activities during the quarter were concentrated on opening up and mining stopes outside the Central Zone; this successfully resulted in an increase in mined grade from 1.30% Cu to 1.47% Cu (September 2018 quarter and December 2018 quarter respectively). The increase in mined grade stemmed from a reduction in dilution, a problem that has impacted continually upon production within the Central Zone. Ore production during the quarter was marginally lower than the September 2018 quarter (372,749 tonnes versus 391,346 tonnes respectively)."

It may be that the actual grade presented to the mill will be higher outside the checkerboard, and that productivity will be better as well, even if they have a bit more (scenic ;-)) driving time. They improved recovery in the Mar Q - but that may have been a function of lower throughput allowing for more work to be done on the ore, the grade still stayed up, compared with the 1.2 and 1.3% ers of the Jun and Sep 18 quarters. Not sure if the ore characteristics will be less variable away from that zone as well, helping avoid dilution, or if the larger mining amounts will factor the variation into the process.

Keen to know if I am living in total fantasy land.