Commodity price and macro-economic assumptions are frequently required as input to our technical authoring and reviewing mandates which include:
- Technical studies requiring input for cut-off grade determination and optimization analysis for Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve reporting;
- Benchmarking for comparative cost of production analysis;
- Financial Models (link to service statements) for comparative assessments of economic performance
- Mineral Asset Valuations (link to service statements) for reporting in regulatory documentation prepared for the equity capital markets.
Approach
To facilitate the above, Geocardinal Engineering has established a historical database with daily and monthly granularity covering the majority of international benchmark indicators including: commodity prices for bulk commodities, base metals, precious metals, gemstones, energy products and industrial minerals; and macro-economic parameters for country specific consumer price indices and exchange rates. In addition, Geocardinal Engineering collates on a quarterly basis various financial analysts’ quarterly, annual and long-term commodity price assumptions. These are subsequently collated in real terms to establish a median for each reporting period defined as the Consensus Market Forecasts (“CMF”). Specifically, the CMF comprises annual forecasts leading to the long-term price (“LTP”) assumptions as appropriate for Ore Reserve declarations.
Our approach in this regard is to provide a simplified independent benchmark which enables objective comparisons with those associated with the specific mandate at hand. This approach does not seek to replace the detailed supply-demand-price analysis as normally completed by recognized market specialists and accordingly where named reliance is required (e.g. public domain documentation) Geocardinal Engineering recommends that these market specialists be appointed separately. Our historical databases also facilitate authoring of country profile reports and comparative country production contributions to global production and ‘reserve’ status.