I was just a bit surprised that it could still be so highly profitable at such a high stripping ratio, until I remembered that most gold-containg ore bodies for example, that could be mined open-pitable at 1 gm/tonne (with stripping ratios of 2.5:1 for example) have a value per tonne of ~ $45 ;whereas, the chromite might sell for 10 times that amount per tonne- thus the 10X higher stripping ratio is entirely feasible.

Cheers, luker