That's a few fair questions there. Thing we have to realise is...

That's a few fair questions there.

Thing we have to realise is that the rainfall recorded on site is a decadal statistical outlier - will have to wait decades before they ever see that amount of rainfall again, parts of WA and SA have had extremely wet weather recently. I've seen more rain out in the desert this year in WA and SA than the last few wet seasons in Northern QLD

Regarding the mining dilution from the Matilda M3 and M10 pits - that's not surprising from the necessity of top loading oxide ore zones - a necessary evil but always going to get more dilution than planned when doing this and oxide ore zones are notoriously heterogeneous and difficult to predict grades. Combined with the drop in performance that you get in Drill & Blast and digging in wet conditions and a bit of logistical/mine planning "In pit tic-tac-toe" and its not too surprising a result. The fact that they've adjust dilution in the oxide portion of those pits from 10% to 25% means that if mining improves and dilution drops back towards the initial 10% estimate then potential upside will arrive with a classic under-promise and over-deliver story to be told in the future (once things dry out).

The comments about grade adjustments/ dilution from the underground operations are more of a worry for me.

Not too sure about the $5.73M exploration and development budget and if they really need to be in such a rush to replace resources and reserves. Remember the wet weather may have delayed exploration drilling so they will be playing catch up as well.

All in all a rather unfortunate series of events, but I am comfortable holding on.