Introduction to Mining and Mining Finance

Strategic Management, Mineral Geosciences and Project Evaluation 

• 1. Value Creation in Mineral Projects
  The cycle of value creation in mineral projects. Exploration Stage. The pyramid reflecting the evolution of a gold mineral exploration and evaluation programme. Drivers – Commodity Prices. Resource Base and Asset Life – Mineral Resources. Synergies and Portfolio Optimisation. Single project mining company stages of development and funding options and sources of capital. Funding Options for Mineral Projects  - Pre-Initial Public Offering, Listing, Joint Venture Agreement and Project Finance. Multiple-partner modelling.

• 2. The origin of mineral deposits and their classification.
  Terminology. Strategic minerals. Chemical composition of the Earths crust. Geochemically abundant and scarce metals. Mineralogical barrier. Relationship between value and tonnage. Diversity – REE, Battery Metals

• 3. Resource Evaluation
  Sampling. Diamond drill rig, crowns, core and core storage. Process Mineralogy. Concepts around Geological Continuity. Polygons of Influence and Inverse Distance.
• 4. Resource Evaluation
  Geostatistical Methods Experimental semi-variogram. Variogram showing the relationship ỵ(h) which relates the semi-variance of sample differences to distance between samples. Resource block model. Grade-tonnage relationships. Reserve and Resource Definitions. Drill spacing. Evaluation versus Production. Break-even and cut-off grade.

• 5. Metals & Energy Project Appraisal & Finance
  Nomenclature of documentation generated  in mineral project development. IPO Prospectus, SEDAR  and NI 43-101.Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) - Elements and Characteristics. Cost Estimation. Relationship Cost to Capacity.  Asset Optimisation. Full Technical Feasibility Study (FTFS)– Elements and Characteristics. Engineering Design Stages . Feasibility Studies  and the Information Memorandum. Construction. Construction Monitoring. Production Monitoring. Project Finance Parameters.

Project Evaluation

• 6. Minerals Engineering – Surface Mining Methods 
  Metal Reconciliation and Mineral Resource Management. Grade control.  Dilution. Mass balance. Pit Optimisation. Slope stability. Blast hole patterns, explosives and breaking.  Equipment
• 7. Transition from open pit to underground. 
  Shaft sinking. Production ramp-up and profile in the transition from surface to underground mining. As the pen-pit matures, the number of working faces becomes limited so production drops and this needs to be compensated for in the ramp-up of block caving. Copper projects case histories - Palabora, Chuquicamata and Oyu Tolgoi
• 8. Underground Mining 
  Horizontal or sub-horizontal  narrow and wide tabular, low dipping ore bodies. Room and pillar, Long hole, Vertical or sub-vertical ore bodies. Sublevel caving, Shrinkage stoping, Cut-and-fill, Drift-and -fill. Mechanisation. Block and panel caving. Case histories

• 9. Mineral Processing
  The central role of mineralogy in effective mineral processing. Comminution. Liberation. Physical and chemical separation processes. Solid-liquid separation. Waste disposal.

• 10. Extractive Metallurgy – Copper 
  Illustration of extractive metallurgy through the hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy of copper ores. Oxide versus sulphide ores. Flash smelting, converting and electro-refining. Heap, tank and in-situ leaching. Solvent extraction and electro-winning. The relationship between smelter contracts and optimum operating conditions.

• 11. Extractive Metallurgy – Gold 
  Gold cyanide leaching. Gold recovery by CIP/CIL and electro- winning.

Management of Projects, Cash Flow Modelling and Financial Accounting

• 12. Constraints on Mineral Resource Development 
  ESG – Environmental impact, social license and corporate governance.  Resource nationalism. Environmental impact assessment. Sustainable Development and the Moral Case for Mining. Occupational Health and Safety. Cost of Environmental Compliance and Closure Provision. Site Visits and Due Diligence. Ideal legislative framework for mining, Multiple-partner modelling

• 13. Introduction 
  Principles of DCF Modelling. Discount rate. Net Present Value. Internal Rate of Return. Payback Period and Choice of Discount Rate. Impact of different discount rates over time. Cash flow for a mineral project. Scenarios illustrating the range of economic performance indicators. Case history of gold operation.  Setting up base case. Nominal versus real.

• 14.1. Valuation of Companies 
  Codes for reporting of mineral asset valuations. Resource report codes. Intrinsic value of a mineral project. Comparable transactions and appraised value method.  Treatment of sunk capital. Acquisition cost. Long-life project. Use of “nominal” versus “real” value, “inflation or deflation” in considering costs and “escalation” when dealing with metal prices. Share performance metrics. Setting share price. Share splits and dual-class shares. Capital Raising – Dilution of existing shareholders. Acquisitions and Mergers. Dilutive  vs Accretive. Difference Between Share Options and Share Warrants. Share repurchase (or buybacks). Multiple –partner modelling. Accounting impairment. 

• 14.2 Case Study – Single Project Copper Company 
  Variables and financial performance indicators. Sustaining and sunk capital. Share price movements. Share performance metrics. Quantitative finance. Grade-tonnage relationships and pit optimisation. Role of debt. Multiple separate mining operations.

• 15. Analysis of Risk and Uncertainty 
  Sensitivity analysis. Application to Monte Carlo simulation techniques. Treatment of multivariant systems. Brownian motion and probabilistic modelling. Crystal Ball modelling of gold project. Precision versus accuracy.

• 16. Project Finance and the Cost of Equity 
  Sources of capital funding. Weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Integrated economic and accounting model for a simple gold project demonstrating the interrelationship between DCFs and the financial accounts. Capital asset pricing model. Optimisation of gearing. Project Finance cover ratios Demonstration of IC-MinEval. Treatment in the financial model of profits after tax before interest (ATBI), profit before interest and tax (PBIT),  profit after interest before tax (PAIBT) (and profit after interest and tax (PAIT).

Mining Finance

• 17. Case History - Base Metals 
  Open pit nickel mine. Sample of DCF model worksheet. Annual cover ratios. Scenario analysis. Optimisation of gearing. Cost estimates. Different stakeholders. Reserve tail. Convergence of technical and financial risk

• 18. Case History – Iron Ore 
  Iron ore minerals – Hematite and Magnetite. Magnetite and ilmenite. Magnetite, vanadium and ilmenite. Mine blocks. Product specifications. Product specifications. Yield optimisation curve. Infrastructure.

• 19.1 Share Structures 
  Deal structure, Share price and stakeholder valuations associated with the progression from a private placement to undertake exploration through to an Initial public offering to fund evaluation drilling. Treatment of options purchased for below an issue price and then distribution of shares held by stakeholders when exercised if this is below an IPO price. Consideration of monies added to the company treasury during corresponding funding stages.

• 19.2 Case Study - Nickel Laterite Project at the Development Stage – Rights Issue 
  Nickel laterite deposits. Reaction of olivine to goethite. Murrin Murrin. Case study. Statement of equity. Share performance metrics. Technical risks. 

• 20. Case History – Gemstones 
  Emerald, ruby, sapphire and lapis. Diamonds - Geological settings and pricing. Alluvial deposit case history. Evaluation of projects. Instability of DCF models. Primary kimberlitic projects.

• 21. Net Smelter Returns 
  Off-take agreements and toll smelting.  Treatment Charge, Refinery Charge (TC/RC) and Price Participation (PP). Case histories. Gold project. Lead, zinc silver project.

• 22. Andean Skarn Silver, Lead Zinc Projects - IC- MinEval-based workshop session. 
  Valuation of a 22 Mt silver-rich deposit with associated Zn and Pb mineralisation. Determination of the cost of equity as a function of the change in gearing.  Optimisation of NPV. Optimisation of NPV. Debt performance indicators (debt service coverage and ratios such as loan life, project life, reserve tail, interest cover, principal cover and residual cover.)

• 23. Metals streaming 
  Comparison between Different Sources of Funding for the Development of a Mining Project. Case History -Aljustrel copper-zinc-lead-silver in Portugal. Metals Streaming Companies Consolidation of course deliverables.