RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:Beating a Dead HorsePaths will hopefully provide his opinion on this matter, but I offer the following.
More stopes can certainly help with costs , in two ways. Yes improved ability to blend different mined material CAN improve the mill heads and therefore the cost per ounce. Totally ignoring grade concerns , yes more stopes gives the miners more working areas , so when operational difficulties arise , as per the Northern Miner article , it gives crews increased operational flexibility, better daily productivities , and lower cost per tone.
The big caveat , however is dont overestimate these benefits. Unless the decision is made to leave it in place , low grade material still has to mined in order to maintain scheduled stoping sequence.
And I've said this before , there must be about one stope being completed every quarter...
270,000 tonnes per quarter , is 90,000 tonnes per rmonth, With six active stopes , each providing about 500 tonnes per day, or 15,000 tonnes per month with an estimated average of 45,000 tonnes per stope , is a stope life of about 90 days. Now this is a really overly simplistic view, ( ignores developpment ore tonnage etc) but tie this in with the Nothern Miner article where management has stated because they now recognise they need the flexibility of more working areas, they propose increasing monthly development rates from 450 to 700 metres. This is a huge increase and has some horrible logistical challenges associated with it . This type of increase is way easier said than done , and unless they REALLY get on with it , existing sopes will be at the completion stage before replacements are available. And development costs per metre will be anywhere from $3000 to $9000 per metre depending on how the accountants want to organise this.
In summary , I wouldnt expect a significant increase in the number of active stopes untill mid 2018 at the earliest