Pro duc tion
re v enues it will lose due to de creased pro duc tion, the co un ty would not want to see its mine pro duc tion de crease in an ot herw ise be nefici al mar ket for iron ore. Hence the need for pro duc tion mini mums. Dur ing ramp-up and then dur ing steady state pro duc tion, it will be in the in terest of both the mine op erator and the govern ment of fici als char ged to monitor the pro ject to main tain a re gular com munica tion. In spec tors from the govern ment mines in spec torate or from the Minist ry of the En v iron ment should make re gular visits to the site. Re lationship main tenan ce and com munica tion bet ween the mine / com p any and the govern ment and bet ween the mine and sur round ing com munit ies will be es senti al throug hout the pro duc tion per iod. The mine de sign, pro cess ing or upgrad ing re q uire ments, and the mar ket ing approach are also de p en dent on the type of miner al that is being mined and how it is de p osited in or on the ground. Wheth er it is a fuel miner al like coal or uranium; an in dustri al miner al like salt, kaolin, potash, titanium di oxide, metal lurg ical coal; a base metal like co p p er, zinc, lead, tin; a ferr ous metal like iron ore, tungst en, man ganese; a pre ci ous miner al like gold, silv er, platinum, di amonds and gemstones: their de p osition al charac teris tics will de ter mine how they are mined, pro ces sed and mar keted. For ex am p le, al luvi al gold may be mined using plac er or hy draulic met hods, while gold in quartz veins may need to extra cted mech anical ly from the ground, crus hed and then pro ces sed using grav ity re cove ry, mer cu ry amal gama tion or cyanida tion met hods to strip out the gold. In the case of cer tain polymen tallic ores, for ex am p le a nickel-copper-cobalt ore, the ore will have to be mined and con centrated, the con centrate smel ted to re cov er all of the pay able miner als. While nic kel may be the main pro duct, the co p p er and co balt may be value add ing co- or by-products, de p end ing on the ex tent to which they con tribute to the re v enue stream. De p end ing on the mar ket value of the miner al, it may be sold as run of mine ore, as con centrate, or as a metal matte or re fined metal. Whatev er the mar ket able pro duct is, and de p end ing on the ex tent of the pro cess ing oc cur ing at the mine, the pro duct may need to be stockpiled or warehoused until such time as en ough materi al has been ac cumulated to meet the IMC's sales com mit ments, or til trans p ort con di tions per mit it to be sent out. Again de p end ing on the pro duct's
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