Guys, The open pit stability is related to major faulting zones....

Guys,

The open pit stability is related to major faulting zones. These zones are inherently weak and cannot be stabilised in open pit mining - all you can do is reduce pit slopes around those areas.

In underground mining weak rock can be stabilised with various technologies - in the case of Siana, the mining method uses paste fill - this is when cement is added to waste to produce something that sets hard to fill the voids which were previously mined.

It is a very conservative mining method - expensive too but this is in the numbers.

The Sep quarter was noted as seeing grades again outperforming the block model - this is the key point. Obviously areas that were mined in the period were lower grade areas - but these still outperformed the model.

Open pit stability is an issue at Siana - this is clear. It is being very well managed however, but there remains some risk. That risk will not affect the underground however.