{
  "id": "competency:msc-mineral-economics--mining",
  "code": "CDU-BUS-MIN-900",
  "level": "MSc",
  "name": "MSc Mineral Economics & Mining",
  "faculty": "Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management",
  "lineage": [
    {
      "institution": "Conquest Designer University",
      "year": 2026,
      "note": "authored from the brief and the SAMREC/JORC codes; no prior institution is claimed"
    }
  ],
  "researchProject": "From block model to value: tonnage, cut-off, stripping and smelter return as one chain",
  "description": "The economic chain from a mineral deposit to a value per tonne: tonnage and contained metal as the codes require them reported, the break-even and marginal cut-off grades, the break-even stripping ratio that bounds an open pit, and the net smelter return per tonne of ore under concentrate terms.",
  "syllabus": [
    "Reporting: volume, density, tonnage, grade, contained metal (SAMREC 2016; JORC 2012 Table 1)",
    "Cut-off grade: break-even and marginal cut-offs, recovery, selling costs (Lane; Rendu)",
    "Open-pit economics: stripping ratio and the break-even stripping ratio",
    "Revenue: concentrate ratio, payable metal, treatment and refining charges, NSR"
  ],
  "reference": {
    "Tonnage": "volume × dry bulk density",
    "Contained metal": "tonnes × grade; 1 troy ounce = 31.1034768 g",
    "Break-even cut-off": "(mining + processing + G&A per tonne) ÷ ((price − selling cost) × recovery)",
    "Marginal cut-off": "(processing + G&A per tonne) ÷ ((price − selling cost) × recovery)",
    "BESR": "(recoverable value per tonne of ore − ore cost per tonne) ÷ waste cost per tonne",
    "NSR": "payable metal × (price − refining charge) − concentrate tonnes × (treatment + transport)"
  },
  "role": "You are a mineral economist and Competent Person explaining a figure in a resource statement or a mine plan. State the basis, show the arithmetic with units, and say which assumption the figure is most sensitive to.",
  "feeUsd": 1,
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "qualification": {
    "award": "MSc",
    "nqfLevel": 9,
    "qualificationType": "Master's Degree (HEQSF qualification type 9a)",
    "totalCredits": 180,
    "minCreditsAtExitLevel": 120,
    "iscedFields": [
      "071",
      "041"
    ],
    "standards": [
      "SAMREC Code (2016) — South African Code for the Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves; SAMVAL Code (2016)",
      "JORC Code (2012) — Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves; CRIRSCO International Reporting Template",
      "Rendu, J.-M. (2014) An Introduction to Cut-off Grade Estimation (2nd ed.), SME; Lane, K. F. (1964) Choosing the optimum cut-off grade",
      "Hustrulid, W., Kuchta, M. & Martin, R. (2013) Open Pit Mine Planning and Design (3rd ed.)"
    ],
    "registration": "not registered"
  },
  "modules": [
    {
      "code": "CDU-BUS-MIN-900-901",
      "title": "Coursework — the executable units",
      "nqfLevel": 9,
      "credits": 60,
      "prerequisites": [],
      "coRequisites": [],
      "outcomes": [
        "answer every unit of the qualification against its published reference, with the working shown"
      ],
      "assessment": {
        "formative": [
          "worked examples re-run against the published reference",
          "seeded practice scenarios, deterministic per (pan, unit, attempt)"
        ],
        "summative": "every unit passed once through the seeded assessment (the seeded assessment room)",
        "passMark": 50,
        "subminimum": 40,
        "moderation": "internally assessed by the unit itself — its reference implementation is the marker; the working is published so anyone can re-run the mark (D-13.1 — no model marks anything)"
      },
      "unitIds": [
        "resource_tonnage",
        "cutoff_grade",
        "stripping_ratio",
        "nsr_per_tonne"
      ],
      "notionalHours": 600
    },
    {
      "code": "CDU-BUS-MIN-900-902",
      "title": "Research report",
      "nqfLevel": 9,
      "credits": 120,
      "prerequisites": [
        "CDU-BUS-MIN-900-901"
      ],
      "coRequisites": [],
      "outcomes": [
        "From block model to value: tonnage, cut-off, stripping and smelter return as one chain"
      ],
      "assessment": {
        "formative": [
          "worked examples re-run against the published reference",
          "seeded practice scenarios, deterministic per (pan, unit, attempt)"
        ],
        "summative": "the research report, assessed against the qualification’s published reference block",
        "passMark": 50,
        "subminimum": 40,
        "moderation": "internally assessed by the unit itself — its reference implementation is the marker; the working is published so anyone can re-run the mark (D-13.1 — no model marks anything)"
      },
      "unitIds": [],
      "notionalHours": 1200
    }
  ],
  "units": [
    {
      "id": "resource_tonnage",
      "name": "Tonnage and contained metal",
      "answers": "How many tonnes does this volume hold, and how much metal do they contain?",
      "example": {
        "volume": 2500000,
        "density": 2.7,
        "grade": 3.2,
        "gradeUnit": "g/t"
      },
      "reference": "SAMREC Code (2016) and JORC Code (2012) Table 1: tonnage, grade and contained metal reported together; density on a dry basis",
      "signature": {
        "input": {
          "volume": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Volume in cubic metres",
            "min": 0
          },
          "density": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Dry bulk density, t/m³",
            "min": 0.1,
            "max": 25
          },
          "grade": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Average grade",
            "min": 0
          },
          "gradeUnit": {
            "type": "string",
            "describe": "g/t for precious metals, % for base metals",
            "oneOf": [
              "g/t",
              "%"
            ]
          }
        },
        "output": {
          "tonnes": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Volume × density"
          },
          "containedMetal": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "kg (g/t) or tonnes (%)"
          },
          "metalUnit": {
            "type": "string",
            "describe": "kg or t"
          },
          "troyOunces": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "For g/t grades; null for %"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "cutoff_grade",
      "name": "Break-even and marginal cut-off grade",
      "answers": "Below what grade does a tonne of ore not pay for itself — counting mining (break-even), and once already mined (marginal)?",
      "example": {
        "miningCost": 35,
        "processingCost": 22,
        "adminCost": 8,
        "pricePerGram": 60,
        "sellingCostPerGram": 1.5,
        "recovery": 0.92
      },
      "reference": "Lane (1964); Rendu (2014) An Introduction to Cut-off Grade Estimation: break-even and marginal cut-off grades",
      "signature": {
        "input": {
          "miningCost": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Mining cost per tonne of ore",
            "min": 0
          },
          "processingCost": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Processing cost per tonne",
            "min": 0
          },
          "adminCost": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "G&A cost per tonne",
            "min": 0
          },
          "pricePerGram": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Metal price per gram",
            "min": 0.0001
          },
          "sellingCostPerGram": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Refining, transport and royalty per gram",
            "min": 0
          },
          "recovery": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Metallurgical recovery, 0–1",
            "min": 0.01,
            "max": 1
          }
        },
        "output": {
          "breakevenCutoff": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "g/t, all costs"
          },
          "marginalCutoff": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "g/t, excluding mining"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "stripping_ratio",
      "name": "Stripping ratio against the break-even",
      "answers": "Is the waste that must be moved per tonne of ore within what the ore can pay for?",
      "example": {
        "wasteTonnes": 18000000,
        "oreTonnes": 4000000,
        "valuePerTonneOre": 95,
        "oreCostPerTonne": 48,
        "wasteCostPerTonne": 9
      },
      "reference": "Hustrulid, Kuchta & Martin (2013) Open Pit Mine Planning and Design: stripping ratio and the break-even stripping ratio",
      "signature": {
        "input": {
          "wasteTonnes": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Waste to be moved",
            "min": 0
          },
          "oreTonnes": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Ore to be mined",
            "min": 0.01
          },
          "valuePerTonneOre": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Recoverable value per tonne of ore",
            "min": 0
          },
          "oreCostPerTonne": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Mining + processing + G&A per tonne of ore",
            "min": 0
          },
          "wasteCostPerTonne": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Cost to mine a tonne of waste",
            "min": 0.0001
          }
        },
        "output": {
          "strippingRatio": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Waste ÷ ore"
          },
          "breakevenStrippingRatio": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "(Value − ore cost) ÷ waste cost"
          },
          "economic": {
            "type": "boolean",
            "describe": "SR ≤ BESR"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "nsr_per_tonne",
      "name": "Net smelter return per tonne of ore",
      "answers": "After recovery, payability and smelter charges, what is a tonne of this ore worth at the mine gate?",
      "example": {
        "headGrade": 0.012,
        "recovery": 0.9,
        "concentrateGrade": 0.28,
        "payable": 0.965,
        "pricePerTonneMetal": 9000,
        "refiningChargePerTonne": 180,
        "treatmentChargePerTonneConc": 80,
        "transportPerTonneConc": 60
      },
      "reference": "Wellmer, Dalheimer & Wagner (2008) Economic Evaluation in Exploration (2nd ed.): net smelter return under concentrate terms",
      "signature": {
        "input": {
          "headGrade": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Metal grade of the ore, as a fraction",
            "min": 0,
            "max": 1
          },
          "recovery": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Recovery to concentrate, 0–1",
            "min": 0,
            "max": 1
          },
          "concentrateGrade": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Metal grade of the concentrate, as a fraction",
            "min": 0.0001,
            "max": 1
          },
          "payable": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Fraction of contained metal the smelter pays for",
            "min": 0,
            "max": 1
          },
          "pricePerTonneMetal": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Metal price per tonne",
            "min": 0
          },
          "refiningChargePerTonne": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "RC per tonne of payable metal",
            "min": 0
          },
          "treatmentChargePerTonneConc": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "TC per dry tonne of concentrate",
            "min": 0
          },
          "transportPerTonneConc": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Freight per tonne of concentrate",
            "min": 0,
            "default": 0
          }
        },
        "output": {
          "concentratePerTonneOre": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Tonnes of concentrate per tonne of ore"
          },
          "payableMetalPerTonneOre": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Tonnes of payable metal per tonne of ore"
          },
          "nsrPerTonneOre": {
            "type": "number",
            "describe": "Net smelter return per tonne of ore"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}