Professional and Personal Development Program

Financial Management and Project Evaluation in the Mining and Minerals Industry

10-14 July 2006 | Murdoch University | WA

CSRP and Murdoch University presented a short course entitled “Financial Management and Project Evaluation in the Mining and Minerals Industry” at Murdoch University on 10-14 July 2006. Dr Pietro Guj, Associate Professor in Mineral Economics, Curtin University was the main presenter. The purpose of the intensive, four-day course was to give participants insight to the productive utilisation of assets and the expenditure of money within the metallurgy and/or mining industry. Students from both CSRP and Murdoch University Extractive Metallurgy participated in the course.

Some of the topics covered included:

• introduction to mineral economics and financial analysis
• review of project evaluation methodologies
• differences between financial accounting on an accrual basis and the cash dynamics of a mining company
• discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis, NPV, IRR
• revenue and basic cost estimation principles
• elements of mining royalties and taxation
• structuring a cash flow model of a mine
• uncertainty and risk analysis

Dr Pietro Guj joined Curtin University following a distinguished career in both the mining industry and Government. He has held the roles of Deputy Director General of the Department of Minerals and Energy and of Director of the Geological Survey of Western Australia. These Government roles were preceded by 18 years in the field of geology, exploration and mining in Afghanistan, Pakistan, South Africa, Namibia and Western Australia. His main interests are in project evaluation and decision analysis as applied to the mineral and petroleum industries and in the formulation and administration of internationally competitive regulatory and fiscal regimes; fields in which he has lectured and consulted internationally.