IntierraRMG and World Mine Cost Data Exchange (Minecost) have aligned to jointly provide market-leading cash cost data on an exclusive basis in IntierraRMG’s database subscription packages. IntierraRMG will also market Minecost’s cost curves and dynamic cost curves. Mine operating cost estimates and comparative rankings are widely used by investors and lenders to assess and forecast the financial value or performance of mining companies, and in the assessment of financial options for mine development or expansion. The mining companies themselves use mine cost models to benchmark their own performance against competitors and to better understand the economics of the industry.
Peter Rossdeutscher, IntierraRMG’s Managing Director, said; “The market has moved from being price-focused to cost-focused, so we are delighted to be working with World Mine Cost Data Exchange. Integrating their proven and valuable cash cost information with the depth and breadth of mining data inside IntierraRMG will benefit the market significantly.”
Minecost says it “is the leading source of mine cost spreadsheet models and operating cost information based on confirmable, peer-reviewed engineering and production data from around the world. Operating cost data is verified against publicly-available information and proprietary sources and then used to construct detailed engineering-based mine cost models of all of the world’s major metals mines.”
Mike Farrell, Principal of Minecost stated; “All our models rely on engineering-based activity analysis and costing and include cost curves showing the operation’s comparative cost ranking against all other mines in the industry. Most importantly, all the models are extensively road-tested and peer reviewed, the data is current and quality assured, and all data sources are disclosed. We only model mine costs when we have dense data and when we fully understand the flowsheet. It is this detailed model analysis and costing which drives our cost curves”
Mining industry investment analysts require mine cost models to forecast earnings, while bankers need mine cost models to assess project finance options and project creditworthiness. Mine cost data is also used to draw embedded cost curves showing industry competitive rankings in snapshot form.
The IntierraRMG models are ‘editable’ and contain all the necessary formulas to allow users to change most of the operating inputs and assumptions and make projections. Users may run the models using their own input variables and different prices and exchange rates to see impacts on production costs.