Whilst it is no surprise that the strong gold price would stimulate activity, the nature of the initial stir is both unexpected and significant. A rule of thumb has it that the exploration wave follows the gold price wave by about 6 months, and with project lead times extending into years, the other end of the pipeline is usually a long way off. 

Small to medium scale projects, however, have much shorter reaction times and if the promoter is energetic it is possible that actual production can be realized within the initial price peak.

The P&S laboratories have been kept busy investigating process options that will allow fast, low capex entry into these resources, even if this is clearly just a first stage. The main criterion for such processes is that they are viable in the short term, bringing a much needed capital injection into the early stages.

The P&S association with Small Mining Supplies has been particularly useful in this regard as the lineup of ready-made solution modules allows for quick, economical and simple choices after the requisite amenability testing. Having been involved in the concept design from the beginning, the P&S testing has been streamlined to identify the pulse with a minimum of test effort. This translates into faster testing lead times and more certain performance predictions for a lower overall fee. All in all, a leading edge service where it matters - the bottom line!