Measured Resources and Proven Reserves – Are they still Relevant?

摘要

The terms measured resources and proven reserves denote the highest level of estimationrnconfi dence in all of the major classifi cation schemes. But what do they really bring to today’s projectrnor mine with respect to production planning and expectations? Initial reserve declaration does notrnneed measured resources, just indicated resources. Economic viability of a project is assessed onrntotal reserves with nary a bonus for the amount of proven reserves. Production plans are basedrnon grade and tonnage goals that may only coincidently correspond to proven reserves. So are thernmeasured and proven categories still relevant?rnHistorically, and almost exclusively in underground mines, companies only allowed mining inrnareas of proven reserves. Some companies still follow that philosophy. But many others will mine arnmixture of probable and proven reserves without hesitation. Also what of the undeveloped projectrnin a new district – what is to be made of their declared measured resources and proven reserves?rnMeasured resources are commonly set either by some type of proximity to data scheme or arnmatter of ‘feel’ based on the qualifi ed person’s experience. The parameters for reserve conversionrnfocus on the project as a whole and then a portion becomes classifi ed as proven reserves almostrnsolely based on whether the resource category is measured.rnSo should the mining industry continue to use these categories of resource and reservernclassifi cation? This paper will present arguments about making these categories once again morernrelevant. A more disciplined usage of these categories may re-introduce their relevancy in publicrndisclosures of resources and reserves. As well a more consistent usage in operations may lead tornincreased confi dence in managing production targets and costs.