Retired Miner-
I surely believe you're correct in saying that San Gold will eventually see the long term value in using the high grade stopes as sweetener, and relying on lower grade, mineable reserves as much as they can. Usually, high grade reserves are relatively limited, as Mother Nature isn't noted for generosity with the same.
Producing as much as economically feasible of the more prevalent lower grade resources makes sense as far as longer property life is concerned, and will postpone deepening an already deep mine as long as possible.
plumb bob