Carlo, Ledoux, has spent the last 100 years building a reputation in the mining industry as a company with high standards and unquestioned integrity. Ledoux took on this project with full knowledge of all past activities and the problems with the past assays. Either they were fining metal or they weren't. Tests say they were finding metal and they have said they stand behind all tests prior to the "accident".
A company like this can get out of a contract by simply saying "sorry guys, we can't find anything worth while in your ore" The WORST thing they could do to get out of a project is with sloppy adherance to protocol risking their own reputation as a reliable lab.
It is my opinion that after a LOOONNNGGGGG time working on solving this problem, management, above Paul Blumberg, said "Paul, you can keep playing with this, but you have to get our best people off of it to work on our key clients." So the scene is set for less experienced people working on highly experimental methods. The odds for a screw up rise dramatically.
Carlo, there were many mistakes, and if you ask people who spend time in the mining business you'll find out that this is an industry riddled with missed deadlines, broken equipment, bad breaks, etc. etc.
It's the nature of the beast. But too many times we want desperately to find the nefarious needs and complicated behind-the-scenes events that explain our problems instead of looking at things for what they are.
Tom F. |
