In the past few years an elevated gold price has resulted in the evaluation of many small scale surface gold deposits in Australia typically containing about 2-3 g/t Au._x000D_
Operators have tended to assume that at the lower end of the grade spectrum only heap leaching is economically possible whereas above some assumed "cut-off" grade, carbon-in-pulp or similar techniques can be considered to have economic advantages._x000D_
Studies made on a number of these prospects has indicated that this rather arbitary choice of treatment method can be mis- leading._x000D_
A case study has been prepared assuming a "typical" situation and is presented. The deposit contains three million tonnes of ore assaying 3 g/t Au and is amenable to open pit mining methods. The mine site is remote but accessable and existing infrastructure is minimal. There are no unusual environmental constraints.