More interested in the overall industry picture than in a particular operation? This page gives registered users the option to download just the industry cost curves for copper, zinc, lead, nickel, silver, PGM, platinum, palladium, rhodium, molybdenum, manganese and iron ore for 2000 through to 2008/9. The cost curves for each year come in an Excel spreadsheet containing production and cost data for each mine in the industry, cost curves that automatically re-draw themselves after you have changed the data or re-sorted it, and nicely formatted tables showing each mine by name, its production and cash cost, plus the name of the operator and country of location. The base and precious metals cost curve spreadsheets show cash costs in c/lb or $/oz metal with and without by-product credits to produce more reliable and accurate rankings, plus cash operating costs for onsite mine and mill costs in $/t ore milled. The iron ore and manganese ore sheets show cash costs in c/mtu for each product plus cash operating costs for onsite mine and mill costs in $/t ore. The cost curves are based only on the mines we model. We do not plug cost numbers from annual reports. This necessarily means that our coverage of western world production in each industry is limited to the mines we model ourselves. But our coverage is still pretty good. In copper, for example, the coverage averages 91% of western world mine production and 83% of total world production. For lead the coverage is just on 86% and for zinc 83%. Nickel mine coverage is over 85% of western world mine production, which includes Japanese ferronickel production from imported ore and by-product Ni production from South Africa. Silver coverage is lowest at just over 72% of western world production, with the gaps being by-product silver from the many very small base metals producers. The PGM, Pt, Pd and Rh cost curves coverage is very high at over 90% of total world production In iron ore, we have modelled just over 82% of western world production as concentrates and agglomerates, which include virtually all production from North America, Australia, Latin America, Sweden, Africa and the Indian export producers. The iron ore spreadsheets contain three sets of data and charts, one for ROM ore onsite costs and FOB port costs, and one for salable product FOB port - fines, lump, concentrate and pellets. Manganese ore coverage is just over 90% of western world production from Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Ghana and Gabon. Molybdenum coverage is 89% of western world output, with the omissions being Iran and some small US production. On the other hand, the policy of including only the mines we model ourselves means that the analysis is consistent across all mines in the cost curve sample. We are comparing apples with apples because we understand exactly how the numbers are derived. The curves marked "revised" or "new" on the list are for years 2000 to 2009 and in current dollars for each year 2000 to 2009. The cost curves for 2008 and 2009 for copper, zinc, lead, nickel, molybdenum and silver have been re-estimated for post melt-down metals prices and exchange rates for 2008 and 2009, using estimated cost inputs for both years. Unmarked cost curves are for 2000 to 2008 based on current dollars for each year 2000 to 2007 and have not yet been re-estimated for the recent price crash. Minecost cost curves are continually updated to reflect the results from the latest models. You can check the date of the cost curve spreadsheets and see which mines are included by clicking on the industry name in the box below. Minecost cost curves are flexible! You can re-sort the data according to your own criteria, change the input numbers and even add new mines. The cost curve charts show all mines in the industry but you can change the settings to display all or only some of the mine names on the cost curves according to your preference. And because the mine names dynamically re-position themselves correctly after sorting the data, you can create your own cost curves as required. For example, below is a typical copper cost curve displaying the major producers: And here is the same curve with the mine names set to display only selected mines: Minecost cost curves are a powerful presentation tool. Create the cost curve you want and then copy it into any graphics program to add colours and your own information and then paste the result into Powerpoint. And if you need even more flexibility, see our Dynamic Cost Curves models that allow you to change any of the industry input assumptions such as prices, TCRCs, exchange rates, ocean freight rates, oil prices and by-product crediting assumptions to produce industry cost curves for both dividual mines and producer companies. If you have not yet registered for a user ID and password, you can view a sample cost curve spreadsheet for 2000. TROUBLE DOWNLOADING FILES FROM MINECOST? CLICK HERE.

World Mine Cost Data Exchange home page

| Home | Download Models | Production Data | Contribute Data | Register | Contact Us | FAQ | Links |Privacy |