Opening a new mine or expanding an existing operation can be a challenging and daunting task. Aside from assessing and evaluating social-environmental concerns and designing the mining and material movement approach, the first question often asked is, "how much will it cost us to mine?" This may need to be determined even before you decide that there is a potential project. Mine cost estimation may be done at many levels. At first it may be a simple “back of the envelope” estimation using similar operations to benchmark against. Later it may be decided to use an existing mine that the company owns and factor and compare costs against them. In the final stages a detailed bottom-up estimation based on first principles may be completed.
This paper will investigate common methodologies of estimating operating costs for mines and present examples from actual operations and why those methods were selected. It will highlight why some methods are superior to others. Finally, we will explore the potential pit falls in cost estimation that often occur and the opportunities that may exist to lower mine costs.
