Evaluation studies of the new mining projects

Abstract

Mining still plays a vital role in providing various sectors with essential materials since many industries depend heavily on mined minerals. Moreover, the mining industry is the primary driver for many economies worldwide. On the other hand, new mining projects face many challenges, the most important of which are risks related to the economic aspects, e.g., the significant uncertainty about mineral resources compared to other engineering projects. Therefore, many jurisdictions worldwide depend on detailed engineering studies conducted according to internationally recognized standards to assess the new mining projects from an economic and technical perspective. In the same context and due to the significant lack of published research in this field, as the literature review revealed, this article reviewed and discussed the different main stages of engineering studies to evaluate new potential mining projects, including scoping, pre-feasibility, and feasibility studies, to ensure that the engineering study report complies with all the recognized main requirements. Results indicated the necessity of adhering to the needs of the engineering tasks while preparing reports of evaluation studies for new mining projects to reduce potential uncertainty risks and thus raise the level of confidence in these types of projects. Furthermore, they showed direct progress between the investigation details conducted in the evaluation studies and the value of the new mining project.