Hi Davo,You say "Frank Sibbel brings a wealth of knowledge to...

Hi Davo,

You say
"Frank Sibbel brings a wealth of knowledge to Tanami and if he stays on the ball i believe we have a future".

It seems you know something that we don't know.
Please educate us.
At the time of appointment to TAM they announced he had done much consulting.
Now when I search the 07 annual report I get a bland statement that he has been involved in many projects..............OK then, you tell me what he has brought in on time and on budget.
I can't seem to get a bead on him.........how then can I have the confidence to put him in charge of my money.
I can't tick any success boxes.

Then you say
"How is getting an operation running smoothly damn hard work? it was hard work sorting out the plant but that now has been done. Mining is the easy part and we now have a plant capable of producing 100,000 ounces per annum."

The weak point here I point out is that they actually have to feed the plant.
I can assure you that building the plant is easy by comparison to the transition to underground.
Let me assure you that it is an extremely hard job in making that transition phase from open pit to underground.
All hard rock miners cross their fingers when going underground.
You need tons of ....experience....money.....luck
Some miners make it look effortless.
Take DOM for example.
They had mining engineers that had been with the company for years.
For the 1.5 years duration of their open pit they steadily built up a stockpile of low grade ore that was stored ready for that disruptive phase (approx 3 months non production of ore) while the underground was developed. Costs per ounce went through the roof for DOM during that disruptive phase and by comparison TAM is already through the roof.

How on earth is TAM going to ever build up the buffer stockpile . It all appears to be low grade and they have to process all they can manage to mine to attempt to stay in the game.

I think we have here two possibilities for case studies in the school of mining management.
+ DOM
- TAM

DYOR