RE:Page .13 Low Grade stock pile includes Shear ZonesYup LeMarcus, I do remember, indeed you were spot on regarding your prediction of 80/20 high value/reject ore ! It is amazing that 80% of our quartzite is high value product, this means tens of millions of tons of high value material. The 20% lower grade reject (IMO sub 97% silica content) could be sold at 10$-40$ per tonne for a nice extra cash with probably some 5%-10% margin ! nothing like the 80%+ average margins of our high value added material (with some of our material like silicon metal feedstock at astronomical 300%+ margins ! assuming 65$ per tonne cost and 200$ per tonne price), but still millions of dollars in annual revenues potential with just our reject ! this speaks volumes regarding the quality of RRS silica deposit.
LeMarcus wrote: Hi All,
Please note that the 22.7% low grades/ rejects (still with economic value, but probably more for a local direct market) includes the shear zones. Of course, Anzaplan process all the interceps to give the full potential of the entire quartzite. But, from a mining and geological point of view, the shear zone makes from 5 to 15 meters per places and has a very different coloration from the rest of the Quartzite. So, it is included in the reports, they sort what is in the cores, but it is known that these section, that are really easy to toss away will be tossed away. Actually, the idea was to use the shear zone evident lower concentration and construction of roads and ditches filling, for RRS on their own Silicon Ridge property... to some extend.
When i visited Sitec main entrance, their private road to the national road, is entirely made of pinkinsh to red quartz with some gravel from their own mining operations.
Last november, when writting to Mining Market Watch, i already gave them my expectations which was 80% of ferro grade and up, and 20% waste/low end including the shear zone. So, you have guys in various offices going back to all the mails and analysis i sent, and thinking, well Marcus was right on is product/waste ratio. And pretty sure on the average grade too.
As many can see, when going into smaller size, there is a lot of the material that cleans out into high value fractions.