“Higher gold prices make lower cut-off grades economic because what was unprofitable to mine and treat in the past then becomes profitable… If operations are able to lower their cut-off grades, then a greater amount of gold is recovered from each orebody.”
“Also, higher gold prices mean that it is economic to reclaim more low-grade material from stockpiles to feed into the treatment plants, so the weighted average head grade of ore being treated declines…. Although lower head grades result in less gold being produced and means cash costs and AISC costs per ounce increase, the value of each ounce of gold is higher.”
“Surbiton Associates’ latest analysis shows that low-grade, reclaimed stockpiled material is currently as high as around 15 per cent of the total ore being treated…Thanks to increasing gold prices, the proportion of low-grade material being blended into feed has risen steadily for the last five quarters, from a proportion of only around one per cent a year ago.”