Yes stewie, you are correct in her statements and the geo,s that this is mostly gold.
But, during the separation process when refining the gold, there are by-products that may be worth while of purifying at certain stages. For example, near the end process of extracting the gold, silver and copper has to be separated from the gold. Even though these may be very low quanities and would be uneconomical to mine on their own, they will have value and may not be thrown away.
I should also mention, that it is a possibility that the Ingognito zone, away from the main trend, could house higher grades of these lesser metals that may be able to be given consideration at a future date. The gold is in this area also, and by looking at some samples, it would appear that gold grades go up with the percentages of other metals, still making gold the most prominant metal in this area as well.
I believe an average grade of copper on the property was .11%. This grade alone is not economical, but, when it is a part of the refining process for gold, it can be economical to separate and refine this on its own. If you look at Yanococha for example, you will see a lot of copper there, that is hardly ever mentioned, because Yanacocha is a large open pit gold mine.
