Hanno Buys

Senior Consultant (Mining Engineering)

SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd

Speaker profile

Hanno Buys (M.Eng (Mining), MSAIMM, Pr.Eng) is a Senior Consultant Mining Engineer with comprehensive knowledge of pit optimisation, mine design, production scheduling, equipment optimisation, and cost estimation. Hanno is experienced in open pit mine development studies, life of mine planning and short term planning.

Presentation summary

Value adding principles for conducting a mining conceptual study.

A conceptual study is the first phase in the development of a new mine. The phased approach (conceptual, prefeasibility, feasibility) is described as a “stepwise risk reduction” process, whereby each phase progressively reduces risk prior to project implementation. Carelessly conducted, a conceptual study has the potential to underestimate a viable project or produce an overoptimistic valuation. Comprehensive industry standards for conducting conceptual studies has the potential to divert the attention of professionals to perform superfluous tasks based on “low confidence” geological information. Within this presentation value adding principles is discussed on the premise that value is added by such tasks that reduce risk in conducting conceptual studies.