Howdy - here's my 10 cents for what its worth. (ex WMC Pit...

Howdy - here's my 10 cents for what its worth. (ex WMC Pit Geologist - Grade Control Nifty Copper - Great Sandy Desert).

Staffing is difficult in these operations - its one thing to be a truck driver in the pit in an air conditioned truck and another thing entirely being in a HOT Dusty pit spotting and doing mark up and grade control drilling. The heat flies and dust are next level and thus staff pay and retention are tough. We had Geologists fly in on a Monday and back out on a Tuesday (minimum temps of 38 degrees at night).
Grade Control is a bit of art and science - but essentially you can not mine ore that is not there - no matter how much you want it to be there. White rock with a black vein running through it would be fantastic - but its not reality unless you are in a coal mine - thus you need good grade control drilling, mark up, spotting and digging. Having a spotter in the pit full time with a good digger is great but I remember dehydrating in the pit drinking 5 L of water and still dehydrating quicker than the body can replace the fluid (you can drop after 2 or 3 hours). The other bit of the equation is blast drilling and heave (I am not sure how they are getting on with this - but it can seriously impact grade control as well).
Recovery is great and drawing down stockpiles is good planning (you never mine huge stockpiles - its a waste of capital). Now that the issues around Grade Control have been identified - all things being equal production and head grade will improve from here.
I would say that there is usually some issues when starting a mine and i would be more concerned if recoveries were low - or milling was tough etc. Grade Control should be easier and quicker to fix.