I would encourage anyone who does not understand open pit mining to have a look at the link Miskealp provided in his post. It explains the terms of mining lifts or benches, slopes and stripping ratios. It is very simple really and the article says so. I have worked in open pit mines both in production and planning. Open pit mines can be very deep, the deeper you go, the more fuel and time is required to get ore to the surface and the more time and effort has to be spent in building ramps that can accomodate large haulage trucks. However, mining waste comes at a cost and you have to expose and mine enough ore to pay for EVERYTHING. When the value of the ore goes down, the mining company has to periodically reduce the stripping ratio to stay in business. Low grade ore that was ore when prices were high may now be waste because prices don't support it being mined at a profit. Hopefully we will get an indication that we can quickly get into ore by means of open pit methods so that a positive cashflow can be generated. When we can demonstrate this, the competion for our shares will really begin and the contest between companies will take shape.