Hewjet, The previous system paid miners on a stope drawdown...

Hewjet,

The previous system paid miners on a stope drawdown basis, ie by tonnage drawn.

However, within a shrinkage stope, it is necessary to leave the majority of the broken ore within the stope as the miners work up the full extent of the 50m height of the stope. This provides support to the miners and it also supports the headwall of the stope.

What had been occurring was 'over-drawing' of the stope during the breaking cycle which had allowed waste rock from the headwall to fall into the broken ore and dilute the overall grade being hauled to the mill.

The new payment system is based around the tonnage of ore blasted per shift rather than by tonnage drawn down.

As it takes around 10 months to fully work a stope it will take a similar time for the full benefit to work across the average 100 stopes being worked and for the fully diluted reserve grade of 7.2g/t to be achieved.
CPDLC