The beauty of being able to download individual mine models is that you can get a working spreadsheet model that allows you to estimate comparative operating costs without having to pay vast prices for an industry "cost study". Even better, you can get free access to models by earning download credits. Download credits are obtained by submitting useful information back to us that we can use to improve the accuracy of our existing models - or even build new ones.

Registered users are issued with a user ID and password that gives them access to all mine models and other analysis tools posted to the site. Each mine model download is charged to users at the price shown beside each model listed on the Mines Download page. Prices are generally US$390 per model, depending on complexity and operational status, and about double this for editable versions of the models where you can change most of the operating assumptions. There are no other charges. There are no membership fees.

Registered users also have access to a range of valuable analysis tools such as the industry cost curves for copper, zinc, lead, silver, nickel, moly and iron ore, the dynamic cost curve models for base metals and iron ore and the simple cost charts showing indicative mining and milling costs for the western world's major mining regions.

And subscribers have access to a range of useful free products and samples. These are the sample Grasberg Editable model and the Bulong Editable model where you can change all the input assumptions, the minecost User Guide which contains an annotated listing of all the model formulas, the sample Cost Curve spreadsheet containing all the sorting and cost curve drawing routines, the sample base metals dynamic cost curve model and the sample iron ore cost dynamic cost curve model, and finally the the sample set of simple cost charts showing indicative mining and milling costs. Subscribing to minecost is worth it just to get access to the free stuff!

Registered users receive a short monthly email report advising of model additions and revisions. The monthly email also helps us to keep track of subscribers. If you do not wish to receive the monthly email report, you may cancel it but this will also cancel your user ID and password, however you can always re-register.

Two payment options are available. For corporate users, we simply invoice you by fax for any model downloads. Payment is made by check posted to our Wilmington office or by bank wire transfer. For individuals who are unknown to us, we generally require submission of a valid credit card. Once the card has been approved by the card issuer, we charge the card account for model downloads as they are made. These will appear on your card statement. All model downloads are independently confirmed by an email from us to the user stating what was downloaded and the charge made. For credit card transactions, we will also fax you on request a copy of the credit card receipt for your records.

Billings are made at the end of the month in which the model was downloaded.

Credits are paid to users who point out our mistakes and to users who contribute data or other useful information about the operations we have modelled, and to users who submit data for operations we have not yet modelled. Credits are paid by allowing users to download models for free.

We will credit you with the full cost of any model download if you can demonstrate that our estimate of onsite cash operating cost per ton of ore milled (as stated in the summary section of the model) is more than ten percent out in any two consecutive years. Awarded credits can be used to download any model currently posted on the site up the value of the credit, and unlike frequent flyer points, our credits never expire. Naturally you can accumulate credits to download the more expensive mine models. Even if you don't catch us out by more than 10% in two consecutive years, we will award lesser credits for your contribution, depending on its value. While it is up to us to decide what you get, you will find we are pretty reasonable. After all, we need contributions and feedback to make the peer review process works. It is in everyone's interests to make the models as accurate as possible.

We also give credits for mine data contributions for operations not posted onto the site. If you have good technical information on a major metal mine in or near production that you believe would be of interest to site users, email us with your proposal. If we accept your contribution, we will credit you with double the download cost for that mine when it goes up onto the list.

We also acknowledge that we can make mistakes and get things wrong. If we have to amend a model to correct a mistake, we supply the corrected model to anyone who has already downloaded that model. And when we update the models to incorporate new production information, we advise everyone who has downloaded that model up to thirty days prior to the revision. This means that if you download a model and we change it for any reason within thirty days of your download, we will advise you of the correction and invite you to download the revised model again at no charge.

How to Register

Just go to the Secure Registration Form, fill it out and we will email you your user ID and password.

If your browser does not support SSL encryption, (yes, a Wall St investment bank once had trouble registering because it did not have SSL encryption!) go to our Alternative Registration Form.

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