Strip Mining Pilbara Despite what the fool Moriarty says on CEO the fact is as it stands Novo is proposing to strip mine thousands of sq km of the Pilbara. That can easily be calculated at current grades and depths of mineralisation to produce several millions of ozs of gold let alone 'billions of ozs" quoted by his starry eyed acolytes. With the added cost of rehabilitation mining at those grades will be prohibitive in terms of profitability. Irrespective of the economics strip mining as proposed will never be sanctioned by the enviromental regulators .
Then the poor old fella goes on to say Novo only intend to mine a few sq km - which on current grades would produce enough gold to fill a matchbox. Brilliant - a company with a $500 million market cap is only going to mine a few sq km of low grade gold on an old alluvial patch.
Stockpiling the top soil is one thing but revegetation will require seeding -not just putting the original vegetation back as the even bigger fool the Headless Horse keeps sprouting on CEO. It has to reseeded with native species along with other requirements.
No doubt about the Horse on CEO - talking to himself now - an expert in geology -now an ore sorter expert -a mining expert but does not have the gonats to debate with knowledgeable people.