We (both our team and theirs) actually had quite the discussion regarding reclamation, and yes the issue was something that needed to be addressed.. when we did hear the loss rates and they were not pretty( I believe the universal response from our group was "you are losing how much in reclamation? seriously), and half a dozen of us asked some very serious questions specifically about the issue. I believe (dont quote me on this but IM fairly positive) that it was an issue with an amount of ore still being trapped in silica. (I am not a metalurgist, but the subject was fascinating). What we were able to gather was that the solutions are not far off. many options are being explored including but not limited to the need to possibly crush the material more to allow easier penetration of the cyanide solution in the leach tank. My gut feel was that it justified the need for the mettalurgy contractors being retained. The sentiment following these conversations was that this is "top of the list" to solve and should not pose an issue much longer.

When I look at the big picture, I have no choice but to use La Negra as a model. Even if it takes some time to bring shafter up to that same overall operating capacity; they(Aurcana) have a great operation in La Negra and it can only be assumed they will try to duplicate it in shafter. Having the history it does(shafter); the nature of the ore bodies and their metallurgy seems to almost be a historical lesson at this point, and shouldnt be too far from reality to have this fixed pretty soon.

That being said, its good to know this is being worked on PRIOR to it being at full capacity, as the loss rates would have been exponentially higher when coupled with full production.

It was a great trip, but it would not have been possible to be so thorough in our examination without Aurcana being so transparent in the spirit of education. ( honestly when trying to give an academic representation to a university about operations at a working underground mine, it can only be done transparently or the academic value is lost.)

Jeff Baker