Not likely, the mine plan included 500k ounces, way more than...

Not likely, the mine plan included 500k ounces, way more than the 330k reserves. I suggest a look into the technical reports, especially the "Independent Technical Review".
At Hicks the situation is that Hicks 1 and 2 are left with 26k ounces in reserves. The cutback would mean a single larger pit with 115k ounces but higher strip ratio (no indication, but the old plan included a year with a strip ratio of 19). That means Troy will now mine Hicks 2 or do waste stripping in the cutback. Whatever the situation at Smarts allows them to do.
Very often the waste is mineralized waste with 0.6 g/t. Could be an explanation to what happened in the past. Any reasonable mine manager will feed the mill with that material if nothing else is available.