ABSTRACT
The question that should be continually asked is how long does your current mine’s costing information remain current? Should the historical data be able to be used for forecasting your future mine schedules or is it out of date before the economic parameters are even derived? A case study has been undertaken that involves the use of equipment whose rated capacity far exceeds the requirements of the activity where smaller equipment is presently in use and the larger equipment has not been used in the operation before. Can this larger equipment, which offers operating cost advantages, improve the NPV of the mine? From the case study, it is easily apparent that there is enormous value in separating the mining operation into cost centres and building up costs from first principles. XERAS is a financial modelling package developed by Runge Pty. Ltd. The financial model built in XERAS inputs a number of mine schedules and is specifically designed for economic and financial modelling of projects, strategies, or production budgets.
