RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:Onwards and UpwardsIn a conventional copper heap leach project, the ore is mined and crushed. The crushing exposes both the copper mineral and the gangue. The acid consumption is a function of the gangue and crush size etc. The economics of a traditional copper heap leach mine are heavily influenced by strip ratio, copper grade, acid consumption and scale of operation. This is why the cut-off grade varies widely for different oxide deposits. Some oxide leach mines can make money from dust (incredibly low grade deposits) if the strip ratio and acid consumption are low. Various "black art" techniques are used during the initial first leach of a copper heap. An example would be an initial acid leach and letting the heap "cure" for a period of time. This is temporary. The beauty of in-situ mining is there is no crushing involved. The copper oxide mineral (chrysocolla) is located on the fracture surfaces. This is the same for Excelsior and Florence so they are fundamentally very similar as per the technical reports. Excelsior has announced first production and first cathode sales and Florence is funded for their project after a successful pilot study. On the 21st December Excelsior announced "Our focus for the coming quarter will be on expanding the wellfield operations with the goal of achieving full nameplate capacity of 25 million pounds per annum by late 2021". By late 2021, hopefully everyone will be safe from Covid-19 and copper will be flying. I have not seen any announcement that only half the wells are working so not sure of the basis for this? The well is a hole with a pump and the pumps can be changed. I think what you mean is the wells have different flowrates. Read the study because all that matters is the overall wellfield flowrate and PLS grade not the focus on an individual well. Given the stream funding the longer ramp-up takes the more money Excelsior can sell their cathode for. My money is on the management team who have taken this project from study, through permitting, funding and construction and first copper. In an age of instant gratification it is worth reflecting on what they have achieved. I am going to celebrate this and copper over $4/lb