slip volume not very material it seems, page-43

Timber 7,

Please don't misquote me. I didn't say all that mattered was grade or even imply that. I said grade was the was the first and most important factor.

That starting point of economics 101 for mining is what is the material worth per tonne - this is determined by grade. The second step is cost per tonne, this is determined by factors like strip ratio, energy costs, recovery, ore hardness etc etc. The third step is risk management, which includes social, hydrology, tailings etc etc.

The great things about Siana are the first point - high grade and the second - low costs.

The problem with Siana has been in the third arena - risk and risk management. Some of these failings are due to mismanagement (ie building a tailings dam with insufficiently weak wall) but the instable pit wall was a carry over event from the original mine failure. This was being managed but that doesn't mean it was possible to avoid the slip without pre-stripping the entire area first. I'm not sure this would even have been possible given the cash and time constraints.

Management were aware and closely monitoring the unstable area - thus no injuries or lost equipment. This is good practice.

I know a lot about mining but it isn't clear to me that managing the water better would have avoided this incident yet it seems the other "experts" here know all the answers and think there was some easy solution.

Seriously?

You need to get into the real world and stop sitting on your high horse in some comfy room making judgements about quite challenging technical factors.

The current management team have done quite a decent job under difficult conditions - they probably haven't communicated well however but this doesn't mean they cant run a mine.

I'll go back to some key points I have made previously:

Siana is a high grade open pit and a very high grade underground deposit
The mill is a world class unit and built oversized.
Processing and mining costs are low.
There is a substantial old tailings deposit sitting next to the mill which could likely be run through the mill without much work.
Even if strip ratios were to double, the open pit would still be viable at current gold prices.
The region has huge exploration potential with a number of discoveries both near mine and regionally already made
Red has zero debt, no hedging and a strong cash position.
Red is trading for less than half the cost to build the mill which is very strategically located in the middle of a gold rich island. There is no value for the mineral assets.