RE: RE Mine Costs14 Sep 2018 11:53
From the Man Fri 06/10/2017
Cleopatra is an exploration decline and will only become production if the resources are economical. You should not factor that in as yet until we know.
Drilling and assaying is ongoing and we went through exactly the same process with the Amun/Ptah decline, it is the same ore body, but Cleopatra is accessing a part of the ore body which is not well understood/pre-drilled.
However, re AISCs, these will rise and fall in relation to the ounces produced (more produced/lower costs, less produced/higher costs).
Clearly if Cleopatra does come in, though there will be reasonable cost involved in the development work (moving all of the rock for crosscuts, drives, ventilation, emergency access, stoping panels, etc) the head grade would have to be at a level which is justifies this expense and yes, the AISCs would certainly come down.
But in the short term the increase in production will come from using the Amun/Ptah decline more efficiently and raising production from 1mtpa of ore to 1.2m or 1.3mtpa, improving the throughput of the plant from c.11.5mtpa, and better grades out of the open pit.
All of these factors, excluding anything from Cleopatra, would drop AISCs further.
Note perhaps this explains the high grading of the open pit?