When was the last time you looked at your mining schedule? Or mining cost model? How long ago was the last optimisation or mining review carried out on your block model(s)?

In many cases a mining project will remain robust to minor fluctuations if it reaches a mature stage of production, but in this current fluctuating economic climate it may prove prudent to have a second look at these very important variables. It’s often the case that by the time a problem arises, or an opportunity to exploit an advantage is identified, it’s too late to make the appropriate adjustments on the ground or at the coal face.

So what are some the easiest steps you can take to make sure that your project is still in good shape, or that you’re not missing out on an opportunity, particularly if your last gold mining optimisation was carried out at sell price of $800/oz when the spot price is now arounnd $1,500/oz?

Here are some simple steps that you can take to perform a relatively quick health check:

1: Drag out the old mining study and have a look at all of the costs applied to the optimisation or mining review. They may have been relevant at the time of the study, but do they still look realistic for now and continuing into the future?

2: Look up the sensitivity tables relating to such variables as cost and sell price fluctuations. These tables will tell you at a glance what areas are prone to trouble. For example, depending on the particular characteristics of project, small percentage fluctuations to particular variables can have a larger than expected effect. It helps to identify these variables and hone in on them for further review.

3: Make the necessary updates to your variables and complete a quick first pass optimisation or mining review. Compare the new outputs to the mining study and insert them into your schedule. Do the results come close to those shown in the original study? How do the new physicals affect your financial model?

Auralia recommends that once established, this review process take place at regular intervals or pre-determined trigger points. If you have the appropriate professionals on site at your disposal this process should be fairly quick and relatively painless. However, if this is not the case then Auralia Mining Consulting can help you through this process and provide training and continual support for now and into the future.

Auralia Mining Consulting can also provide you with services for:

  • Model optimisations
  • Pit and site designs
  • Mining schedules
  • Milling schedules
  • Reserve statements
  • Benchmarking and due diligence studies
  • Desktop through to high level reviews
  • First pass studies through to BFS/DFS
  • Releases on the ASX and TSX
  • Multiple commodities
  • On site/off site training
  • On site semi-permanent fixed contract roles
  • On site/corporate project management

Please feel free to contact us or visit our website for more information.