MSc Metals and Energy Finance
Deepen your understanding of the technical and financial assessment of natural energy and mineral resources
Key information
Overview
This course relates to the technical and financial appraisal of natural energy and mineral resources projects.
This degree is run jointly by the Department of Earth Science and Engineering and Imperial College Business School.
It covers mineral deposit studies, resource evaluation, basic petroleum engineering and petroleum geology, minerals engineering and extractive metallurgy, accounting, mathematical techniques in finance, project appraisal and finance, project management, and markets and supplies.
You will be introduced to quantitative financial analysis, strategic management and technical geological concepts in the context of metals and energy projects.
Study programme
In March, you will join the Centre for Professional Development's module on mineral project appraisal and finance, which provides an executive overview of many key technical and financial issues covered by the MSc course. This enables you to understand how different components of the course interrelate and obtain independent perspectives of the relevance of what you have covered from the other delegates.
An excursion of at least 10 days to a region of active mining, downstream metal and mineral processing, and energy development will be arranged for the third and fourth weeks of the summer term. This is a key component of the degree course, providing first-hand experience of all aspects of the extraction industry. It also reinforces the practical application of the theoretical material covered in the first two terms.
You will be prepared for the planning and execution of your research project by classroom training in advanced techniques and developments in finance, science and engineering, and by your independent excursion report. During the formal teaching programme, you will be encouraged to identify topics of particular interest with a view to developing the basis for your dissertation.
Contacts with professionals working in metals, energy and financial organisations through the excursion and the continuing professional development module also provide opportunities for you to secure internships in the mining, oil and gas sector or the investment banking community, which can help with the generation of your research project. Work on the research project is undertaken between July and September.
Careers
Our MSc in Metals and Energy Finance produces graduates equipped to pursue careers in the technical and financial appraisal of natural energy and mineral resource projects. The course offers traditional minerals-related training directly applicable to a career in the minerals industry.
This programme aims to enhance career opportunities in the financial services and petroleum industries.
Professional accreditation
This course is professionally accredited by The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
Achieving a professionally accredited degree demonstrates to employers that you have achieved an industry-recognised standard of competency. It also brings international recognition of your qualification, which is particularly useful for students preparing for a career abroad.
Our accreditation agreement with The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining is renewed every 5 years, and the current agreement runs between 2018 and 2022.
Structure
Modules shown are for the current academic year and are subject to change depending on your year of entry.
Please note that the curriculum of this programme is currently being reviewed as part of a College-wide process to introduce a standardised modular structure. As a result, the content and assessment structures of this course may change for your year of entry. We therefore recommend that you check this course page before finalising your application and after submitting it as we will aim to update this page as soon as any changes are ratified by the College.
Find out more about the limited circumstances in which we may need to make changes to or in relation to our courses, the type of changes we may make and how we will tell you about changes we have made.
Structure
Core modules
- Accounting
- Cash Flow Modelling
- Derivatives
- Dissertation
- Extractive Metallurgy
- Investment and Portfolio Management
- Management of Projects, Markets and Supplies
- Mathematics for Finance
- Metals and Energy Project Appraisal and Finance
- Mineral Deposits Studies
- Minerals Engineering (Mining)
- Petroleum Engineering
- Petroleum Geology
- Resource Evaluation
- Strategic Management
Additional modules
Depending on the levels of mathematics that you demonstrate in your application forms, you will be allocated to the Science and Economics Group or the Engineering and Mathematics Group.
Those in the Science and Economics group will take an additional Foundation Mathematics module.
Those who have sufficient mathematics to fully benefit from the parts of the programme that depend on good quantitative skills (which should include everyone with engineering degrees) will be allocated to the Engineering and Mathematics Group and follow an additional Spanish Language Option.
If you are already proficient or fluent in Spanish then you may be offered advanced Spanish, French or Italian instead.
Field trips
- Wessex trip
Teaching and assessment
Teaching
- Blackboard (Earth Science and Engineering)
- Dissertations
- E-learning
- Field trips
- Interactive lectures
- Literature-based assignments
- Presentations by external contributors
- Student Communications Hub (Business School)
- Syndicate exercises and role playing
- Video-recorded presentations
Assessment
- Coursework
- Syndicate exercises (group work)
- Detailed appraisal sheets from the field trips
- Dissertations (both proposal and finished piece)
Course timetable
The course is intensive and runs for almost a full year, starting in early October and finishing in mid-September.
It comprises formal classroom-based teaching with practical classes and seminars in the autumn and spring terms.
Entry requirements
We welcome students from all over the world and consider all applicants on an individual basis.
Admissions
Minimum academic requirement
Our minimum requirement is a 2.1 degree in engineering, physical sciences or economics with a substantial mathematics component.
Appropriate experience, while not essential, would be an advantage.
International qualifications
We also accept a wide variety of international qualifications.
The academic requirement above is for applicants who hold or who are working towards a UK qualification.
For guidance see our Country Index though please note that the standards listed are the minimum for entry to the College, and not specifically this Department.
If you have any questions about admissions and the standard required for the qualification you hold or are currently studying then please contact the relevant admissions team.
English language requirement (all applicants)
All candidates must demonstrate a minimum level of English language proficiency for admission to the College.
For admission to this course, you must achieve the standard College requirement in the appropriate English language qualification. For details of the minimum grades required to achieve this requirement, please see the English language requirements for postgraduate applicants.
How to apply
Before you apply
We strive to increase and broaden inclusivity and support everyone, regardless of background, in breaking down any barriers to your application the Department.
If you are interested in this MSc, we strongly encourage you to contact the course administrator prior to starting your application.
Making an application
Apply online
All applicants must apply online.
Visit our Admissions website for details on the application process.
You can submit one application form per year of entry. You can usually choose up to two courses.
Application fee
For 2021–22 entry, we are introducing a pilot application fee for our Master's courses. This helps cover some of the administrative and staffing costs associated with processing the large volume of applications we receive.
This fee will be £80 per application and not per course.
We will waive the fee for any applicant – Home or Overseas – who demonstrates that they are experiencing financial hardship.
There is no application fee for Postgraduate Certificates, Postgraduate Diplomas or PhDs. The fee for MBA applications to the Imperial College Business School is £135.
ATAS certificate
An ATAS certificate is not required for overseas students applying for this course.
Further questions?
Find answers to your questions about admissions. Answers cover COVID-19, English language requirements, Visas and more.
Tuition fees and funding
The level of tuition fees you pay is based on your fee status, which we assess based on UK government legislation.
Find out more about fees and funding opportunities.
Tuition fees
Home rate of tuition
2021 entry
£24,000 per year
Fees are charged by year of entry to the College and not year of study.
Except where otherwise indicated, the fees for students on courses lasting more than one year will increase annually by an amount linked to inflation, including for part-time students on modular programmes. The measure of inflation used will be the Retail Price Index (RPI) value in the April of the calendar year in which the academic session starts e.g. the RPI value in April 2021 will apply to fees for the academic year 2021–2022.
Fee status
Whether you pay the Home fee depends on your fee status.
Your fee status is assessed based on UK Government legislation and includes things like where you live and your nationality or residency status.
Find out more about how we assess your fee status.
EU/EEA/Swiss students
The Government has confirmed that EU/EEA/Swiss students who begin a course before the 31 July 2021 will be eligible to pay the same fee as Home students and have access to student finance for the duration of their course, as long as they meet certain requirements which are unchanged from previous years. This includes students who begin the course remotely.
EU/EEA/Swiss students starting a course on or after 1 August 2021 will no longer be eligible for the Home fee rate and so will be charged the Overseas fee. Please note we do not expect this to apply to Irish students or students benefitting from Citizens' rights under the EU Withdrawal Agreement, EEA EFTA Separation Agreement or Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement respectively. However, we are currently awaiting the formal publication of the amended Fees and Awards regulations.
The UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) website has useful information on the conditions you currently need to meet to be entitled to pay tuition fees at the Home rate for study on a higher education course in England and reflect the regulations as they currently stand (not the amended regulations which are subject to publication).
UKCISA has also provided some information in response to Questions for students starting their course from the 1 August 2021.
For regular updates for EU students, please see our Imperial and the EU webpages.
Overseas rate of tuition
2021 entry
£37,500 per year
Fees are charged by year of entry to the College and not year of study.
Except where otherwise indicated, the fees for students on courses lasting more than one year will increase annually by an amount linked to inflation, including for part-time students on modular programmes. The measure of inflation used will be the Retail Price Index (RPI) value in the April of the calendar year in which the academic session starts e.g. the RPI value in April 2021 will apply to fees for the academic year 2021–2022.
Fee status
Whether you pay the Overseas fee depends on your fee status.
Your fee status is assessed based on UK Government legislation and includes things like where you live and your nationality or residency status.
Find out more about how we assess your fee status.
EU/EEA/Swiss students
The Government has confirmed that EU/EEA/Swiss students who begin a course before the 31 July 2021 will be eligible to pay the same fee as Home students and have access to student finance for the duration of their course, as long as they meet certain requirements which are unchanged from previous years. This includes students who begin the course remotely.
EU/EEA/Swiss students starting a course on or after 1 August 2021 will no longer be eligible for the Home fee rate and so will be charged the Overseas fee. Please note we do not expect this to apply to Irish students or students benefitting from Citizens' rights under the EU Withdrawal Agreement, EEA EFTA Separation Agreement or Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement respectively. However, we are currently awaiting the formal publication of the amended Fees and Awards regulations.
The UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) website has useful information on the conditions you currently need to meet to be entitled to pay tuition fees at the Home rate for study on a higher education course in England and reflect the regulations as they currently stand (not the amended regulations which are subject to publication).
UKCISA has also provided some information in response to Questions for students starting their course from the 1 August 2021.
For regular updates for EU students, please see our Imperial and the EU webpages.
Postgraduate Master's loan
If you're a UK national, or EU national with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you may be able to apply for a Postgraduate Master’s Loan from the UK government, if you meet certain criteria.
For 2021-22 entry, the maximum amount is £11,570. The loan is not means-tested and you can choose whether to put it towards your tuition fees or living costs.
Scholarships
We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students to support you through your studies. Find out more about our scholarships to see what you might be eligible for.
A number of external organisations also offer awards for Imperial students. Find out more about non-Imperial scholarships.
If you are an Iranian national and are accepted to study at Imperial starting this October, you may be eligible to apply for the Irani family scholarship.
Bank of Montreal Scholarship
The Bank of Montreal has made a gift to Imperial to establish the BMO Scholarship for Women in Metals and Energy Finance. The scholarship, which was first awarded for the 2015-2016 academic year, is open to female students on the MSc in Metals and Energy Finance who demonstrate exceptional academic merit and/or potential.
The scholarship covers tuition at UK/EU rates and a bursary.
Accommodation and living costs
Living costs, including accommodation, are not included in your tuition fees.
You can compare costs across our different accommodation options on our Accommodation website.
A rough guide to what you might expect to spend to live in reasonable comfort in London is available on our Fees and Funding website.
Further information
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