Methodological Approach to Substantiation of Capital Investments of Gold Fields Based on Unit Costs

Abstract

Issues of assessing capital expenditures for setting mineral deposits into operation are considered. Existing methods have a number of advantages and disadvantages, but they are determined separately for each type of fixed assets of the field. A simple method, that allows to quickly and easily determine the amount of capital costs for setting gold deposit into operation, based on data on ore reserves, as well as unit costs, taking into account the degree of infrastructure development at the deposit, is proposed. Presented methodology allows one to determine the real amount of initial capital expenditures of a gold deposit, calculate their marginal (recommended) value, and also assess the balance of capital investments in the development of a particular deposit, taking into account the existing one in the company's investment portfolio. The methodology is based on analysis of empirical material, which used real capital costs for development of gold deposits (and foreign-metal impurities) by Polymetal International plc. As a result of a statistical study, method for determining the marginal cost of a field is obtained.