valeron, as hailoh says, all very good questions. LP1 commenced...

valeron, as hailoh says, all very good questions.

LP1 commenced stacking in 2006. As far as I'm aware, that ore is still sitting there.

As you say, LP4 is as big as the other three put together. So it can contain more inventory - therefore as it is stacked, the inventory increases.

Inventory can be stored in the leach pads and in the liquor ponds.

The longer a leach pad has been irrigated, the less silver it will have. So you can get lower production even as inventory increases.

It takes time from commencement of irrigation until the silver containing liquor starts to flow.

The rate at which the silver is leached depends enormously on the type of ore and how it has been crushed. That is why the first AYN management upgraded the crushing circuit - and why the second AYN management upgraded the crushing circuit. So, yes, there have always been leaching problems, and it will be a while before they can tell if they have been overcome, IMO, because there is a mix of pre- and post- new, new crusher ore on LP4.

Eventually (I expected they would have started last year) they'll take LP1 out of commission to strip it and re-stack.

From memory the Sept qtr the plant was pretty much on C&M due to lack of funds, but the leaching continued so they should have had plenty of silver in the ponds.

Once the ore is stacked, you can't do much (if anything) to increase the leach rate.

I've posted over the years on this issue - they have never shown that they are likely to meet their targets, even though the target is now almost half what it was in 2011: 1.5Moz to 2.0Moz by December 2011, now has a nameplate of 1,1Moz per year.

Personally I think they should stop mining for a year, simply irrigate the stacks to get the maximum silver out of them at minimal cost, only sell dore for enough cash to keep the leaching and extraction going and wait and see what the POS does. Put the directors on C&M too.

Then, before they start mining again they can assess pads 1 to 3 to see if they need stripping, and have everything ready for a fresh start.

Just IMO - been following this for 13 years now.