Gold price, page-6708

risk

Yes I think you are on the right track there.
Having owned some small earthmoving equipment and a truck I can say that during the wet season the material is much heavier, at least 30% and more depending on how much moisture the material holds.
This makes moving the dirt with the loaders slower because of the weight and the working conditions.
I also think the moisture level affects how fast the mill can process the material as well.
for Example a 15 ton truck can carry about 8 cu/m or 15 ton of dry material depending on what that material is but if it is wet it can not carry much more than about 5 cu/m because of the weight.
I would imagine the gold ore would be heavy for a start and if it was wet would perhaps even halve the amount a loader may be able to carry safely in the wet.
I actually tipped a little bobcat on its head once carrying wet dirt that is how significant the extra weight can be.

I did read in one of the announcements or was it in the presentation that the ore at Duckhead was very suited to the mill. In the past sometimes the ore has not been optimal for the mill and they did make some significant changes to the crusher process.