Ann: Significant Extension to Mineralisation at Opuwo Project, page-64

Have had a chat to a few mining types, this is actually a pretty good announcement. It's quite good to have a mix of mining types, ie different types of mining underground and potentially some open pit.

Traditionally room and pillar is coal mining but interestingly other cobalt mines doing this are in DRC.
Says something about our ground perhaps.


To quote Wikipedia and more or less what some mining guys say:

Room and pillar historically has lower operating and capital cost in comparison to equivalent systems.
Flexibility to market conditions

Metal commodities that are mined with room and pillar such as zinc, lead, and copper, historically have volatile market conditions. Room and pillar is ideal at adapting to these changing market conditions because of its selectivity. During lows in the price cycle, room and pillar mines can opt to leave low grade sections and exclusively mine high grade areas because it has capabilities of opening up multiple working faces. Therefore, room and pillar mines are generally less vulnerable to market fluctuations than other methods may be.

I'm guessing they'll go full steam ahead with some more drilling in this area and prove up the resource and then add it to JORC.
IMO it may have some pretty good implications for updated SS.

FWIW from looking in Africa there are similar copper mines not that far away that are now operating at over double the depth I believe  so that's not an issue.