MSc Mineral Economics & Mining

Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management · CDU-BUS-MIN-900 · MSc · v1.0.0

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.

Lineage

Conquest Designer University, 2026 — authored from the brief and the SAMREC/JORC codes; no prior institution is claimed

Final research project

From block model to value: tonnage, cut-off, stripping and smelter return as one chain

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)

Units

Tonnage and contained metal · Break-even and marginal cut-off grade · Stripping ratio against the break-even · Net smelter return per tonne of ore

Role when narrated: 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.

Tonnage and contained metal · resource_tonnage

Try with the example

How many tonnes does this volume hold, and how much metal do they contain?

Reference: SAMREC Code (2016) and JORC Code (2012) Table 1: tonnage, grade and contained metal reported together; density on a dry basis

Returns

tonnes: Volume × density
containedMetal: kg (g/t) or tonnes (%)
metalUnit: kg or t
troyOunces: For g/t grades; null for %

The example

{
  "volume": 2500000,
  "density": 2.7,
  "grade": 3.2,
  "gradeUnit": "g/t"
}

Agents: POST /faculty/msc-mineral-economics--mining/resource_tonnage with JSON {pan, …inputs} and the x-402-payment header. Manifest.

Break-even and marginal cut-off grade · cutoff_grade

Try with the example

Below what grade does a tonne of ore not pay for itself — counting mining (break-even), and once already mined (marginal)?

Reference: Lane (1964); Rendu (2014) An Introduction to Cut-off Grade Estimation: break-even and marginal cut-off grades

Returns

breakevenCutoff: g/t, all costs
marginalCutoff: g/t, excluding mining

The example

{
  "miningCost": 35,
  "processingCost": 22,
  "adminCost": 8,
  "pricePerGram": 60,
  "sellingCostPerGram": 1.5,
  "recovery": 0.92
}

Agents: POST /faculty/msc-mineral-economics--mining/cutoff_grade with JSON {pan, …inputs} and the x-402-payment header. Manifest.

Stripping ratio against the break-even · stripping_ratio

Try with the example

Is the waste that must be moved per tonne of ore within what the ore can pay for?

Reference: Hustrulid, Kuchta & Martin (2013) Open Pit Mine Planning and Design: stripping ratio and the break-even stripping ratio

Returns

strippingRatio: Waste ÷ ore
breakevenStrippingRatio: (Value − ore cost) ÷ waste cost
economic: SR ≤ BESR

The example

{
  "wasteTonnes": 18000000,
  "oreTonnes": 4000000,
  "valuePerTonneOre": 95,
  "oreCostPerTonne": 48,
  "wasteCostPerTonne": 9
}

Agents: POST /faculty/msc-mineral-economics--mining/stripping_ratio with JSON {pan, …inputs} and the x-402-payment header. Manifest.

Net smelter return per tonne of ore · nsr_per_tonne

Example filled in — consult below

After recovery, payability and smelter charges, what is a tonne of this ore worth at the mine gate?

Reference: Wellmer, Dalheimer & Wagner (2008) Economic Evaluation in Exploration (2nd ed.): net smelter return under concentrate terms

Returns

concentratePerTonneOre: Tonnes of concentrate per tonne of ore
payableMetalPerTonneOre: Tonnes of payable metal per tonne of ore
nsrPerTonneOre: Net smelter return per tonne of ore

The example

{
  "headGrade": 0.012,
  "recovery": 0.9,
  "concentrateGrade": 0.28,
  "payable": 0.965,
  "pricePerTonneMetal": 9000,
  "refiningChargePerTonne": 180,
  "treatmentChargePerTonneConc": 80,
  "transportPerTonneConc": 60
}

Agents: POST /faculty/msc-mineral-economics--mining/nsr_per_tonne with JSON {pan, …inputs} and the x-402-payment header. Manifest.