Appraisal of Engineering Phases of a Mineral Asset: From Exploration to Mine Approval

Abstract

It is well known that the most common methodology for evaluating a mineral asset is the NPV. Most of the mining companies employ this technique for evaluating the expected economic benefits provided by the exploration and exploitation of a mineral deposit. However, companies also wish to know how their assets are creating value through the several exploration and development phases. The purpose being to assess the progressive value of the mineral asset in agreement with the information and data cumulated through the different steps from exploration to project approval. This paper establishes the value of a copper mineral deposit through their successive phases from exploration to feasibility and approval using the options’ binomial nodes framework. Results are applied to two copper negotiations for method validation.