Abstract: Methods of deploying shovels and haul trucks to meet a defined production target may include: Determining at least one production constraint for a shovel and a material processing system; estimating an effect of entropy on a cycle time of the haul trucks to produce a future cycle time estimate; estimating an effect of entropy on a material processing time of the material processing system to produce a future material processing time estimate; predicting whether a delay will occur during the operation of the shovel, the haul trucks, and the material processing system; estimating a duration of the predicted delay; determining a number of shovels and a number of haul trucks required to meet the defined production target based on the determined production constraint, the future cycle time estimate, the future material processing time estimate, and the duration of the predicted delay; and deploying the determined number of shovels and the determined number of haul trucks.

Abstract: Gold-containing ores, having refractory sulfidic matter or a combination of refractory sulfidic matter and refractory carbonaceous matter, are processed to recover their gold values. The process uses an ore roasting procedure that utilizes a two-state, fluidized bed roaster. The process also employs a pure oxygen atmosphere during roasting. A carbon-in-leach step is desirably used to extract gold values from the roasted ore.