Technical Reports on Mineral Projects can be a bit daunting to read, especially if your background is financial and not technical. There is a great deal of literature available on writing a technical report and conforming to code, but this is not much help for the non-technical person trying to read the report. In this series of posts, I will provide some general information about mining technical reports. In particular, I will summarize where you can find different types of information and things to look out for in each section of the report.
A Technical Report compliant with the 43-101 reporting standard generally contains 27 sections. Some sections may be omitted in certain cases, for example if the report is regarding an exploration project and no Mineral Reserves have been declared. I will focus here on the sections of the report relating to mining engineering, namely:
Item 15 – Mineral Reserve Estimates
Item 16 – Mining Methods
Items 21-22 – Capital and Operating Costs, Economic Analysis
I will also note some observations from other chapters. Where appropriate, I will provide examples from recent public Technical Reports available on SEDAR.
Disclosure:
I have authored the mining sections of Technical Reports and have acted as a Qualified Person (QP) as per the standard, but do not represent the regulators. My goal with this series of posts is to provide general background information only. Please refer to the official guidelines or your appropriate securities commission for more detailed information.
References to published Technical Reports are for educational purposes only; I have no affiliation with any of the referenced properties or companies.
References:
The CIM MRMR page is the home for the Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources Guidance, including the 43-101 Standard. See the CRIRSCO website for information for equivalent international codes.
This document from the OSC explains the regulatory framework regarding disclosure.