",keep in mind that all the equipment sat idle for years ,[conveyors,conveyors straps ,motors ,rollers,the wash plant,etc,etc.etc."
As I stated in a post several days ago. I would not be willing to buy processing plant failures as an excuse for any MAJOR delays in getting the sample ran. After all, they had 3 years to look this stuff over, and could have VERY EASILY ran it a little bit, even without loads on it, to determine the mechanical condition.
Personnaly, I do not think that mechanical issues where the cause of the lengthy delay in getting the sample ran. I would give mechanical issues as being maybe 1 week's worth of delay out of the appx. 10 weeks to get the sample to the surface and ran thru the plant.
Maybe mechanical issues in the mine itself. Rail, loader, engineering the channel opening supports & placing them are more likely causes for the delay. When blasting takes place, everything has to be checked & re checked for safety. When they blast in some of the bigger under ground mines, it can take up to 6 months before meaningfull extraction can happen. But this is the extreme. When they blast in the big mines, It's a BIG BLAST.
it is highly likely that the rate of material from the white channel will now ramp up rather quickly, because the miners are now working in the confines of the channel itself. BUT THEY HAVE TO GET THE MATERIAL TO THE SURFACE at a rate that will allow a chance at finding some reasonable amounts of gold per ton mined.
This is the efficiency issue...
Time is money... By the way, I am an retired machinist, with an associates degree in engineering. Also ran a business for 12 years that involved YELLOW equipment. And am VERY familiar with fixing mechanical issues.
