One more thing I just thought of- The ore in Melba has to be moved out before the end of the lease, which gives them some time. However, the ore higher up on the mountain has to be moved down before winter sets in and makes access problematic or impossible. So why not use the remaining good weather to move some more ore down now, and bring the ore up from Melba just before the lease expires? That will also make more efficient use of the trucks and they won't sit idle after the mountain roads are closed.

Might as well get all the ore moved down and processed as quickly as possible to make room for the ore that will be coming out of the mnes!