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The mine operating cost estimates are based on a serious attempt to model the flowsheet. Our focus is on-site cash operating costs rather than guesses about off-site costs such as treatment, shipment, marketing expenses and overheads, much less depreciation, amortization and interest charges. While our models include offsite shipment, treatment and refining charges in order to estimate the cost of production to refined metal, we use published custom treatment charges based on standard treatment and refining contract terms, where relevant, for all mines, unless disclosed by the mine operator. This has the virtue of allowing mines to be compared on the basis of their own performance rather than on the efficiency or otherwise of the downstream smelter!
Line items for each major step in the flowsheet are shown for each mine and each mill in the model, both in terms of dollars per day and dollars per ton mined/milled. The major aggregates - labor, fuel and power for mining and labor, fuel, power and chemicals for milling, plus offsite transport, TC/RC and royalties - are shown in dollars per day and dollars per ton, plus in cents per pound of metal produced for each product. The rest of the Operating Cost sheet deals with metal valuations, offsite costs and by-product credits to derive the net cost of each mine product.
To fully document each line of this sheet and to guarantee model transparency, users may also download a free User Guide to minecost models which shows just how all the formulas and calculations work. The User Guide contains all the standard sheets presented in the models, with comments and explanations beside each item displayed in yellow cells. It also annotates the (normally hidden) model working sheets to let users see just what is included in each item modelled, and the composition of the three main categories labor, supplies and materials associated with each item.
The Operating Cost sheet has been broken up into two parts to speed up the display.
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