Mining valuation glossary

Market snapshot and capital structure

Share Price (USD): the last traded price you enter, in the model currency. It drives market capitalisation, upside and price-to-NAV. It does not change any NAV or cash-flow figure.

Shares Outstanding (M): issued shares today, in millions. Used only for market capitalisation.

Fully Diluted Shares (M): Basic shares plus options, warrants, RSUs and convertibles that could become shares, in millions. Every per-share output (NAV per share, Model value / share, FCF proxy / share) divides by this figure.

Market cap: share price × basic shares outstanding. Shown as a home-page card.

Debt ($M): borrowings and leases you choose to deduct, US$ millions. Subtracted from equity value and added to enterprise value.

Cash ($M): cash and liquid investments, US$ millions. Added to equity value and subtracted from enterprise value.

Other Liabilities ($M): other claims ranking ahead of shareholders, such as deferred consideration, stream deposits or gold prepayments, US$ millions. Treated like debt. Enter zero explicitly when there are none, because a blank value hides balance-sheet outputs. Debt, cash and other liabilities count only once you enter them, and an explicit 0 counts. Until then, enterprise value, NAV and Model value stay hidden.

Enterprise value (EV): market capitalisation + debt − cash + other liabilities. It is what the market pays for the operating business once the balance sheet is removed.

Cash flow multiple: the EV-to-annual-free-cash-flow multiple you choose for the market screen, for example 6×. It is an assumption, not an observed fact, and the screen stays hidden until it is positive.

Share count adjustment (×): an optional 0.50–3.00 multiplier of fully diluted shares for Model value / share and FCF proxy / share only. Blank means 1.00×. It does not change market capitalisation, enterprise value, finite NAV / share or funding calculations.

Currency and FX reference: the currency you choose for display. A labelled foreign-exchange reference handles the conversion; every other figure is the one you typed.

Resources and reserves

Mineral reserve: the part of a measured or indicated resource that a pre-feasibility or feasibility study has shown can be mined economically. Reserves are split into Proven (highest confidence) and Probable.

Mineral resource: mineralisation with reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction that has not yet been shown to be economic. Resources are split into Measured, Indicated and Inferred, from highest to lowest confidence.

P&P / M&I (legacy combined): single rows for Proven + Probable, or Measured + Indicated, kept for older saves. They behave exactly like the separate categories.

Inferred resource: The lowest-confidence category. It is not a reserve. Outputs that use it carry an "Inferred resources — speculative" warning in the resource screen, and it enters the DCF only through the + Inferred tier.

M&I reporting basis: whether reported M&I includes the reserves (inclusive) or is additional to them (exclusive). The default is inclusive. For inclusive rows, OreScore subtracts reserves from M&I mine by mine and commodity by commodity, so ounces are never counted twice. M&I marked "not stated" is left out of conversion and pipeline value until you set the basis. Netting is done per deposit name and commodity for both the DCF tiers and pipeline value.

Ore tonnes: resource or reserve tonnage, in millions of tonnes (Mt).

Grade: metal per tonne of rock, in g/t for gold and silver, % for copper, or lb/t.

Contained metal: metal in the rock before any losses. g/t: Mt × g/t × 0.0321507 = Moz. %: Mt × % × 22.0462 = Mlb. lb/t: Mt × lb/t = Mlb.

Contained amount: type the contained ounces or pounds instead of tonnes × grade, with an explicit unit (Koz, Moz, Mlb or Blb). When you enter one, it overrides tonnes × grade.

Recovery: the percentage of contained metal the plant recovers, 0–100%.

Payability: the percentage of recovered metal the buyer pays for after smelter and refining terms, 0–100%. Doré gold is typically close to 100%; concentrates are lower.

Ownership: The company's attributable share of that row, 0–100%. Asset NPVs, tier conversion and pipeline value also apply the asset's attributable ownership. In multi-asset models, resource screening also applies the assigned asset's ownership; legacy single-mine screening uses row ownership.

Deposit / row name: Labels the deposit on each row. Rows join an asset when you assign them to it, not by name. The name is used to flag overlapping rows (same name and commodity) and to net inclusive M&I against reserves for that deposit and commodity.

Exclude from resource screen: Hides this row from the resource screen totals and value-per-ounce. It still counts toward + M&I / + Inferred extension and pipeline value.

Resource screening outputs

Category weight: a fixed screening haircut by confidence: reserves 78%, measured and indicated 58%, inferred 28%. These are illustrative screening weights, not calibrated probabilities. They are used only in the resource screening value, never in the DCF.

Resource screening value: Σ contained metal × scenario price × recovery × payability × ownership × category weight. It is an in-ground screen that ignores capital, costs, tax and timing, so it is not a NAV. Older single-mine saves can carry a fixed per-row price, which the screen uses instead of the scenario price. Clear it to use scenario prices.

Value per ounce: Gold resource screening value divided by gross non-inventory contained gold across all categories in legacy single-mine mode, or attributable non-inventory gold reserves in multi-asset mode.

Gold-equivalent ounces (AuEq): silver and copper converted to gold at the scenario price ratio. Silver: oz × silver price ÷ gold price. Copper: lb × copper price ÷ gold price.

EV per reserve ounce: EV ÷ attributable reserve AuEq ounces (contained, before recovery). In legacy single-mine saves, a fixed per-row price can override the scenario price in both the resource screen and reserve-AuEq calculation; clear it to use scenario prices.

EV per annual production ounce: EV ÷ annual AuEq production ounces.

Largest undeveloped resource: The sum of non-reserve ore tonnes, not the largest single deposit: gross tonnes in legacy single-mine mode and attributable tonnes in multi-asset mode.

Production and operations

Mine life: the number of producing years in the DCF, 1–200 and rounded to a whole year. It is required for any NAV.

Ramp-up period: the years to reach full output. Year t produces min(1, t ÷ ramp years) of steady state. Zero means full output from year 1.

Production schedule: optional factors, one per production year (0–5×), that replace the linear ramp. For example, 0.45, 0.85, then 1.0 for a mine still expanding. The schedule length must equal the mine life.

Gold production / Silver production: Steady-state output, koz per year, net of plant recovery. Enter payable ounces if payability is below 100%.

Copper production: Steady-state copper output, kt per year. Revenue multiplies kt by 2.20462 to get millions of pounds.

Throughput: ore processed each year, Mt per year.

Head grade: grade of ore fed to the plant, g/t or %.

Recovery (asset): The plant recovery, entered as a percentage and used as a fraction in the formula below.

Derived production: when throughput, head grade and recovery are all entered and production is not, OreScore derives it. Gold or silver: Mt × g/t × recovery × 1,000 ÷ 31.1035 = koz. Copper: Mt × % × recovery × 10 = kt. Derived output applies plant recovery only, not payability.

Strip ratio: tonnes of waste mined per tonne of ore. Enter it directly (t/t), or enter waste and ore tonnes in Mt and OreScore computes waste ÷ ore. It is shown for context and has no effect on cost.

Start year offset: The years before the asset's first build spend. The whole asset value is discounted by (1 + discount rate)^offset, so the first operating cash flow lands in year offset + 1. Use it for projects that are not yet built.

Asset status: producing, development or exploration. It is a label only.

Costs and capital

Cash cost: direct site operating cost per unit sold (US$/oz or US$/lb), before sustaining capital.

All-in sustaining cost (AISC): cash cost plus sustaining capital, royalties, sustaining exploration, corporate G&A and reclamation, per unit sold. It is a non-GAAP measure whose definition varies by issuer. OreScore removes only the separate sustaining capex when you choose AISC. If the issuer's AISC already includes royalties or corporate G&A, do not enter those again.

Gold cost basis / Silver cost basis / Copper cost basis: Whether each commodity's unit cost is cash cost or AISC. If any producing commodity uses AISC, sustaining capex is set to zero for that asset. Royalty and corporate G&A are still deducted if entered.

Sustaining capex: annual capital needed to keep operating at current scale, US$ millions per year. It is used only on a cash-cost basis.

Gold cash cost incl. sustaining: Gold unit cost + sustaining capex × capex multiplier × 1,000 ÷ gold production, in US$/oz. It is shown on saved company cards. When it exceeds the scenario gold price, OreScore raises a "Cost pressure" flag. This shorthand assumes a positive production multiplier; at zero production there is no sustaining-capex increment, and an AISC basis removes separately effective sustaining capex.

Negative gold cost: allowed down to minus the gold price. It represents mines where by-product credits exceed operating cost.

Other by-product credits: annual revenue from metals not modelled separately, US$ millions per year. It is added to revenue and scaled by the production multiplier. Do not also enter them if your cost figure is already net of by-products.

Royalty: a percentage of total revenue, including credits, paid to a rights holder. Stream burdens can be entered here as an equivalent percentage of revenue.

Tax rate: cash tax rate applied to positive pre-tax cash flow; it is simplified because depreciation tax shields are not modeled. To reflect depreciation, enter an effective tax rate (the study's life-of-mine tax ÷ operating margin). A discount rate cannot capture tax shields.

Initial capex: build capital spent at year 0, US$ millions. It is required for any NAV.

Capex contingency: a percentage uplift on initial capex. Effective capex = initial capex × scenario capex multiplier × (1 + contingency).

Growth capex: optional annual expansion capital, US$ millions per year. It is charged every production year (and through any resource-extension years), discounted, and scaled by the capex multiplier.

Closure cost: end-of-life reclamation, US$ millions. It is charged in the final production year and discounted from there. Closure above US$100 million raises a "Closure liability" note.

Conversion capital: optional one-off capital per converted ounce (US$/oz) for turning resources into mineable inventory. It is charged once, the year after base mine life.

Cash flow and discounting

Revenue: gold koz × gold price ÷ 1,000 + silver koz × silver price ÷ 1,000 + copper kt × 2.20462 × copper price + by-product credits, all × the scenario production multiplier. Result in US$ millions per year.

Operating costs: production × unit cost for each commodity, same units and multiplier.

Royalty cost: revenue × royalty %.

Annual free cash flow (FCF): revenue − royalty − operating costs − sustaining capex, then minus tax on the positive part. This steady-state figure feeds every DCF year after ramp or schedule factors.

Asset discount rate: The annual rate used to discount that asset's cash flows. A blank rate shows "Not entered" and hides NAV. An entered 0% is calculated at a 0.1% floor.

Project NAV (asset NPV): Σ (FCF × year factor) ÷ (1 + rate)^year for years 1…life, − effective initial capex, − closure ÷ (1 + rate)^life. It is unrisked. This is the base formula. Growth capex, a start offset, resource-extension years and conversion capital adjust it as described in the model guide.

IRR: The discount rate at which the asset's cash flows net to zero. It is shown only for a single asset with no start offset, growth capex, custom schedule, corporate G&A or active resource extension, and with one sign change in its cash flows. Otherwise, read each asset's NPV.

FCF proxy / share: annual FCF ÷ fully diluted shares.

FCF yield: annual FCF ÷ market capitalisation. Upside and yield figures are shown as percentages, i.e. the ratio × 100.

EV / cash flow: EV ÷ annual FCF, shown only when FCF is positive.

Market screen (multiple-based)

Market-screen enterprise value: Annual FCF × your cash-flow multiple. In a multi-asset model, this uses attributable annual FCF from producing assets, summed across all complete DCF assets producing from start year zero, less entered corporate G&A; inventory-only and pre-production assets are excluded.

Market-screen equity value: market-screen EV − debt + cash − other liabilities.

Model value / share: Market-screen equity value ÷ fully diluted shares. In a multi-asset model, the FCF is the attributable steady-state FCF of producing assets only (start offset 0), less corporate G&A. It is a cash-flow-multiple screen, not NAV.

Model value upside: model value per share ÷ share price − 1.

Risk lens

Metallurgy risk, Permitting risk, Funding risk, Jurisdiction risk, Social / ESG risk: your judgement of each risk on a 0–100 slider. These five are averaged. For a positive NPV with the other four at zero, moving one of them from 0 to 100 cuts risked value by 10%, and all five at 100 cut it by half.

Execution risk: a 0–100 judgement of build and ramp-up delivery, applied separately from the other five.

Execution probability: your estimate (0–100%) that the plan is delivered at all.

Risk factor: execution probability × (1 − execution risk ÷ 200) × (1 − average of the other five risks ÷ 200), bounded 0–1. For example, 80%, 20 and 20 give 0.8 × 0.9 × 0.9 = 0.648.

Risked NAV: Project NAV × risk factor. A negative NAV, or a negative study NPV, is not reduced, so losses are never made to look smaller.

Risk flags: "Permitting watch", "Funding / dilution watch", "Jurisdiction watch" and "Social / ESG watch" appear above 30. "Execution discount" appears when execution probability is below 60%. Flags are prompts for research, not ratings. In a multi-asset model, watch flags are checked on each DCF asset's effective inputs and prefixed with its name; inventory-only assets are identified separately by the partial-portfolio notice.

Company risk summary: the ownership-weighted average of each risk input across assets, for context. NAV always uses each asset's own factor.

Multi-asset company model

Asset: one mine or project with its own resource rows, operations, costs, risks, discount rate, start year and ownership. Each resource row belongs to exactly one asset.

Attributable ownership: the company's share of the asset, 0–100%.

Attributable NPV: asset risked NAV × ownership.

Valuation mode (DCF): the asset is valued from its mine plan.

Valuation mode (inventory only): the asset is listed with its resources but has no defensible economics. It contributes no NAV; its value is unknown, not zero, and a "Partial portfolio NAV" flag appears.

Corporate G&A: Optional annual head-office cost, US$ millions. It is discounted at the corporate rate over a horizon equal to the production-weighted average asset life (schedule factors summed, plus extension years), rounded up. The horizon has a minimum of one year, excludes start offsets, and weights asset lives by attributable annual AuEq at stored operating prices where available, otherwise scenario prices. In a multi-asset model it is also deducted from Model value's FCF. Skipping it leaves every asset value unchanged.

Other assets: optional investments or receivables, US$ millions, added to equity.

Risk-adjusted equity NAV: Σ attributable risked NPVs + cash − debt − other liabilities + other assets − PV of corporate G&A.

Unadjusted equity NAV: the same sum using unrisked NPVs.

Risk-adjusted NAV per share: risk-adjusted equity NAV ÷ fully diluted shares.

NAV upside: NAV per share ÷ share price − 1.

Price / NAV: share price ÷ NAV per share (fully diluted), shown unadjusted and risk-adjusted. The unadjusted variant uses unadjusted equity NAV ÷ fully diluted shares as its denominator. Below 1× means the entered share price is below your modelled NAV per share.

Model completeness: The ring counts how many of 26 fixed company-level inputs you have entered: 6 market, 14 operating and 6 risk inputs. An explicit 0 counts. It measures how much is filled in, not accuracy or confidence. Company NAV requires at least one complete DCF asset and every DCF asset complete; equity and per-share outputs also require their capital-structure and share-count inputs.

Funding & dilution (optional, Gold)

Funding required: the total financing assumption, in currency millions. The suggestion sums attributable initial capex including contingency plus attributable growth capex for non-producing DCF assets, less company cash, floored at zero. Producing and inventory-only assets are excluded. A legacy single-mine model has no production status, so its entered build cost is used for the suggestion only. Suggestions are never applied automatically.

Equity share: the percentage of funding raised as equity. The suggestion is 100%; enter or explicitly accept it before calculating. Non-equity funding is assumed to be debt; it affects the NAV bridge only when you enter the new debt there.

Raise price: the entered subscription price per new share. The suggestion is current share price × (1 − raise discount ÷ 100); the suggested discount is 10%. A discount never overwrites an entered raise price.

Issue costs: the percentage of gross equity proceeds spent on the issue. The suggestion is 5%; enter or explicitly accept it before calculating. Net proceeds = gross equity raised × (1 − issue costs ÷ 100).

Equity raised and new shares: equity raised = funding required × equity share ÷ 100; new shares (millions) = equity raised (currency millions) ÷ raise price. Pro-forma fully diluted shares = existing fully diluted shares + new shares.

Dilution: new shares ÷ existing fully diluted shares × 100. This is the increase in the share count, not the percentage of the post-raise company owned by the new investors.

Funded NAV per share: (risk-adjusted equity NAV + net equity proceeds) ÷ pro-forma fully diluted shares. Build capex is already deducted in asset NPVs, so net proceeds are added once. The illustrative raise happens today, without discounting the proceeds.

Change versus NAV per share and funded P/NAV: change = (funded NAV per share ÷ existing NAV per share − 1) × 100; funded P/NAV = entered share price ÷ funded NAV per share. Change is unavailable for non-positive existing NAV per share; funded P/NAV is unavailable for non-positive funded NAV per share. Blank funding, a non-positive raise price, missing fully diluted shares or unavailable NAV show a dash. The ordinary NAV/share, Model value/share, P/NAV and IRR do not change.

Resource tiers and conversion

P&P / + M&I / + Inferred buttons: choose which resource confidence levels feed the DCF. P&P uses the mine plan as entered. + M&I converts part of M&I into extra mine life. + Inferred also converts part of inferred.

M&I conversion weight: the share of eligible M&I ounces assumed to convert to mineable inventory. Default 50%.

Inferred conversion weight: the share of inferred ounces assumed to convert. Default 20%.

Eligible M&I: M&I AuEq ounces (recovered, payable, attributable), net of reserves when the basis is inclusive.

Resource extension years: Extension years = converted AuEq ounces divided by scenario-scaled annual AuEq production of gold and any mode-eligible silver/copper, using scenario metal-price ratios and consistent ounce units; an included metal need not itself contribute positive converted inventory. They are added after base mine life at steady-state output and capped at 15 years by default (0 disables). Closure moves to the new end of life, growth capex continues, and IRR is hidden.

Conversion mode: gold-only converts only gold rows. Co-products also converts silver and copper rows when that metal has production and cost entered. Auto chooses gold-only when positive by-product credits are entered, or when no co-product has both production and cost entered. Otherwise it chooses co-products. A silver or copper co-product qualifies for conversion only when its production and unit cost are explicitly recorded; throughput-derived production alone does not satisfy the production-entry check.

Include resources in tier conversion: a per-asset switch, on by default for DCF assets.

Pipeline value (inventory-only assets)

Pipeline rates: US$ per attributable contained AuEq ounce: P&P US$150, M&I US$60 (net of reserves if inclusive), inferred US$20 by default. They are editable at company level.

Study NPV (optional): an optional published NPV (US$ millions) for an inventory-only asset. When entered, it replaces the per-ounce rates, multiplied by ownership.

Risked pipeline value: (study NPV × ownership, or Σ ounces × rate) × the asset's risk factor. It needs all seven risk inputs entered for that asset. A negative study NPV is not reduced.

NAV including pipeline: risk-adjusted equity NAV + risked pipeline value, shown separately so the core NAV stays based only on mine plans.

Scenarios

Bear / base / bull: three named cases, each with its own gold, silver and copper prices plus a production multiplier and a capex multiplier.

Production multiplier: scales revenue, operating costs, credits and sustaining capex together. 0.9 means 10% less output.

Capex multiplier: scales initial, sustaining, growth and conversion capital. 1.2 means a 20% overrun.

Scenario spread: the gap between bear and bull NAV per share. It measures sensitivity to your assumptions, not the probability of an outcome.

Evidence and input status

Reported: taken directly from a filing or release.

Derived from report: calculated from reported figures, with the formula noted, for example throughput = tonnes per day × 365.

Guidance: company forward guidance.

Assumption: your own estimate where no source exists. Review these first.

Market snapshot, Reported reference, Secondary, Model boundary and Double-count control: labels for market data, older references, third-party data, deliberate model limits, and fields set to zero to avoid counting something twice.

Entered vs default: Built-in fallbacks exist, such as the 8% rate, conversion weights, the 15-year cap and pipeline rates. Any output that needs an input you haven't entered stays hidden, with the reason, instead of using a fallback.