Morning fitnfam,Thought the statement in your original post...

Morning fitnfam,

Thought the statement in your original post "Still not up to the volume of ore,or the number of ounces to make 100koz ongoing" was the crux of what you had to say in view of the topic heading of "production falling".

Your current post regarding lost milling time and reduced mill capacity has widened the scope of the topic, which is your perogative having been the original poster - in fact I am glad you have as it has opened up this matter of the OPA with Barrick.

Think you have now covered a number of valid points and assumptions about this OPA, and I would like to add a few more.

The crux of the OPA is that it relates to Barrick treating and purchasing, subject to specifications. 1.8 million tons of CRE ore per annum and that such ore will be treated in scheduled batch periods.

No mention of 50 day campaign periods, or how much ore is to be treated in scheduled batch periods - these being procedural matters to be resolved (and no doubt varied) by mutual agreement.

Think we will find that Barrick has alloted up to 50 days mill time in each quarter for CRE to get the target 1.8 mtpa through the mill, however how many of these 50 available days are actually utilised will depend on how much ore is available for processing at an agreed rate.

Reason why the current campaign 9 is only of 32 days duration, is that it is only going to take Barrick 32 days to mill at the required rate, the residual target amount to reach the 1.8 mtpa treatment figure.

Ore grade going through the mill falls under the subject to specifications provisions of the OPA, and I would not mind betting that CRE in the past has suffered some penalties in not meeting them.

If anything it is the head grade of the CRE ore going through the Granny Smith mill that is the problem, and not the ore tonnages.

cheers, kentwang