Thnx Gregb1, Farlap.Wet ore was a far bigger constraint than...

Thnx Gregb1, Farlap.
Wet ore was a far bigger constraint than planned for. Double handling may have been a bugger - the real problem was it was normally triple and quadruple handled. Drying times could be excessively long, removing very substantial stickpiled ore from availability and most importantly - blendability - the mixing to create optimum product per customer specs. In the wet season drying times dragged out for weeks. Experiments such as turning over the stockpiles with a dozer were not efficient and were very costly. Indeed loaders and trucks were often used to move hundreds of thousands tons of wet ore just forty metres away to dry it.( and often back again). Intensive contractor involvement in the handling of wet ore upped the production cost of the entire minesite substantially. Removing the contractor costings and the normal quadruple handling of wet have been/will be significant improvements to output of the OPF.
I also noted the company getting to grips with the surface miners on a monthly basis - those things spit out the dirt big time when conditions are good. Obviously there were problems initially, but my observations were that they were considerably quicker than conventional dig units all other things being equal. I don't think that official company forecasts will be too far off re production capacity in the longer term.

(Not a financial advisor.Not giving advice. Above is personal opinion only).