Dressing Agent Inquiry Checklist

Particulars first

Start the inquiry with the ore, stated by name and, where known, by its preparation history. Then state the process step at which the agent is being considered, and whether the question concerns the agent itself, a selection between approaches, or a document that should be requested. Those three facts, ore, step, and question type, are the particulars that every other answer depends on, and a message that omits any of them will usually need a follow-up before a useful answer can be given.

Next, state what is known and what is not known, briefly, in the buyer's own words. A short statement of what is already settled helps the company focus on the open questions, while a statement of what is not known prevents a reply from assuming facts the buyer did not state. In the inquiry, state the particulars before the general question: the ore, the step, and what is known and not known.

Documents and practical items

State what documents are needed and for what purpose, because a document that covers one purpose may not cover another. Certificates are available upon request, and a request that names its purpose will receive a more precise answer than a general request for certificates. If a document is needed for an internal approval, say so, and if only a short written answer is needed, say that too, so that the form of the reply matches the need.

Ask the practical questions in the same message, in question form. Before payment, please confirm the payment method and payment terms, and in the inquiry, please confirm the minimum order quantity, the lead time, and the shipping arrangement. Ask those questions in the same first message, together with the ore, the step, and the documents needed.

Checking the reply

When a reply arrives, check it against the checklist that was sent: the ore named, the step named, the question type named, the documents requested, and the practical items asked about. If any item is missing from the reply, ask about that item directly, rather than assuming that silence means agreement or that a general statement covers it. That check is the point of writing a checklist in the first place, and it is worth doing even when the reply looks complete at first reading.

Also check whether any answer in the reply goes beyond the inquiry, for example by stating a figure, a guarantee, or a coverage that was not asked about. An answer that goes beyond the inquiry is not necessarily wrong, but it should be queried, because it may rest on assumptions about the ore or step that the buyer did not state. A short follow-up question about such an answer usually settles the matter, and it keeps the record clear for both sides.

Checklists that survive contact with reality

A checklist survives contact with reality when it is used as a working list, not as a ritual. A working list is checked off item by item, with each item either answered, queried, or noted as still open, and the list itself is kept with the correspondence so that later messages can be checked against it. A ritual list is copied into a message and then forgotten, and its items are never checked against the reply, which defeats the purpose of writing a list at all. The difference is not in the list, but in what happens after it is sent.

A working checklist also changes over time: items that were open become settled, new items appear as the discussion progresses, and the list is updated to reflect both changes. A buyer who updates the list will always know what remains open, while a buyer who does not will lose track of open items as the correspondence grows. That practical point is why this page encourages a buyer to keep the checklist with the thread, rather than treating it as a one-time formality.