This is the point of highest value creation leverage in the entire life of a project. Enormous value can be added with the right ideas and strategies , and its important that all reasonably prospective avenues of value are explored and documented including mining methods , processing technology, scale, and end product. It is at this stage that Teviot’s technical and analytical skills are of most value to clients in areas such as :
Identification of development routes that leverage the key competitive advantages of the project to reduce risk , minimise costs and optimise cash flows
Modelling of many scenarios of size, scale , grade, product and technology is very helpful but needs to be done with a small team of experts and focused on the practicalities of optimizing the project and keeping avenues for future value addition open .
Project planners should be looking way beyond JORC to what is considered the true potential of the discovery
In challenging projects , its often helpful to frame that challenge from ‘Will this project work ?’ to ‘How do we make this project work ?’
As for any investment that required investors funds , we need analytical assessment of key risks, opportunities and comparative analysis
More guidance on good practice in managing projects at the Conceptual stage is provided here