Mining Notes
A geological report is not an investment case.
The funding request should match the evidence available at that stage, whether the proposal concerns exploration, development or an operation.
A geological report can support an investment case. It doesn’t replace one.
If the document focuses on geology, I still want to understand the decision being proposed. Are we financing exploration, evaluating development, or funding an operation?
Those are different uses of capital and different levels of evidence.
For a development proposal, I’d examine the mining and processing assumptions, infrastructure, environmental and social conditions, permits, capital requirements and operating costs. I’d want to know what has been tested, what remains uncertain, and what a delay would do to the plan.
Exploration needs a different conversation. A proposal can explain what the next phase will test and what result would justify continuing, without presenting an unproven deposit as a ready-to-build mine.
Technical studies can cover far more than geology. And mineral resources and mineral reserves are not interchangeable terms: reserves require technical and economic assessment, not just geological confidence. CIM · Definition Standards (2014).
What matters to me is matching the funding request to the evidence available at that stage.
The useful question isn’t “How impressive is the report?”
It’s “What decision does this evidence support, and what do we still need to find out?”