Mining project owners subject their projects to several stages of progressively more detailed and rigorous evaluations before giving the go-ahead to spend money and build a mine. A project will typically advance from a Preliminary Economic Assessment, through a Pre-feasibility Study to, finally, a Feasibility Study.
A Pre-feasibility Study is a comprehensive study of a range of options for the technical and economic viability of a mineral project that has advanced to a stage where a preferred mining method, in the case of underground mining, or the pit configuration, in the case of an open pit, is established and an effective method of mineral processing is determined. It includes a financial analysis based on reasonable assumptions on mining, processing, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental considerations and the evaluation of any other relevant factors which are sufficient for a Qualified Person, acting reasonably, to determine if all or part of the Mineral Resource may be classified as a Mineral Reserve.