By maintaining a core of senior people, Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. can provide the client with direct hands-on management by people who have feasibility and project development and operations experience as owners, project managers and mine operators, as well as consultants. The client benefits from a team that not only has participated and led many feasibility studies and development projects, but has also had direct line responsibility for implementation and startup.

Prefeasibility and Feasibility studies of mining projects are carried out in association with Hatch of Mississauga, Ontario and with other engineering firms. The following list of topics is typical for these types of studies:

• Property status and ownership

• Access, climate and local resources

• History of exploration and mining

• Geology and resources/reserves

• Geotechnical aspects

• Mining aspects
  1. Mineable reserves
  2. Mining method
  3. Mining dilution
  4. Mine design and planning
  5. Mining equipment
  6. Mine capital and operating costs

• Metallurgical aspects
  1. Ore mineralogy
  2. Metallurgical testwork
  3. Flowsheet design

• Processing plant
  1. Crushing and grinding
  2. Machinery and equipment
  3. Concentrate storage
  4. Construction schedule
  5. Tailings and waste disposal

• Infrastructure

• Environmental and permitting
  1. Base line studies
  2. Reclamation plans and costs
  3. Closure plans and requirements

• Staffing and administration
  1. Management and manpower requirements
  2. Warehousing
  3. Working capital

• Financial analysis
  1. Cash flow analysis
  2. Sensitivity analysis

These studies may be carried out with different amounts of engineering work completed, depending on the project phase, as indicated below:

Type of Study	Engineering Level	Cost Level	Target Accuracy
Scoping	Conceptual	Factored, comparison	+-35%
Pre-feasibility	Order of Magnitude	Factored, some quantities	+-25%
Feasibility A	Preliminary	Factored, some GA's some first principle costs	-15% / +25%
Feasibility B	Basic	GA's, preliminary quotes, first principle costs	-10% / +15%
Feasibility C	Detailed, suitable for construction	Detailed quantities firm quotes	-5% / +10%

Normally, a Feasibility B study would provide the level of detail and confidence of estimates to allow corporate and financing decisions to be made.

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