Some of you probably know this already, but Im happy to share some info I have seen and heard.
The plant is being supplied by Gekko, you can see what it looks like from their very handy website: gekkos.com (No au, mind) It looks like a long train of units all linked to one another. This is quite deliberate so they can be assembled at the factory and shipped up unit by unit and then linked up at the site. They are each designed to fit on a large truck tray. This all saves a heap of cost because there doesnt have to be a fortune paid to grasping remote contractors to come and work on site. Gekko supply and assemble and commission as part of the deal, and the user only has to turn it on and learn the ropes from Gekko staff who stay a while to train them. Its a local outfit but very connected. Their CEO is a woman, the ideas mans wife? Their designers are very innovative. Won lots of awards. Its all done so there is little a small miners management can stuff up. They sell alot of narrow veing gear particularly to the South Africans. They have an operation over there too.
Before any gear is supplied, they run tests on the ore. If the ore needs to be crushed to fine dust the gravity gear supplied will not save much, but if it gets good liberation from larger diameter grind Gekkos gear will really cut costs. The ore must have passed the tests. I dont think Hill End's did.
They held a narrow vein mining conference a while back, which I was invited to present a paper at, but could not be ready in time, sadly. It was a good conf. I hear.
They have also developed a means of delivering the concentrated gold ore to the surface, using a slurry pipe which removes the need for transport to the top. This is tied in with a concentrator they can install underground through a narrowish hole. About 5m by 5m from memory. This would also save heaps in per oz costs, but there has to be somewhere to dump the reject ore, usually in worked out areas. There are a lot of those at the pit they are at now.
Just though you might be interested.
MCO Price at posting:
36.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
