SME’s 8th Current Trends in Mining Finance Conference (CTMF 2023)
Managing Risk and Identifying Opportunities in a Disruptive World
- Where Finding, Financing and Securing Supply is Critical
Connecting Mining, Finance and Engineering Executives™
Monday May 8 - Thursday May 11, 2023
Meet with and get your questions answered by the instructors, leading, qualified technical, financial and non-technical subject matter experts at five workshops described below. All attendees must register in advance. Delegates registered to attend a workshop on Monday, May 8 are welcome to attend the Monday Welcome Reception. Space* is limited.
Monday May 8th from 11:30 to 4:30 PM
Workshop I. (A.) Managing Construction Risks & Mitigating Consequences on Mining Projects: Shearman & Sterling from Noon to 2:15 pm. (B.) Assessment of the Productivity of a Mining Project through Mine-to-Mill Reconciliation: The Importance of Post Investment Reviews: Geo Global and RESPEC from 2:30 pm to 4:45 pm on Monday May 8. Registration and lunch start at 11:30 am, and includes Monday reception and dinner.
Workshop II. S-K 1300 Disclosure by Registrants Engaged in Mining Operations: Wood Plc. and Mine Technical Services Ltd. (MTS) on Monday May 8. Registration and lunch start at 11:30 am, workshop ends at ~4:30 pm. Registration includes lunch, and Monday reception and dinner.
Thursday May 11th from 7:15 am to 11:30 am plus lunch
Workshop III. Critical Aspects for Technical Due Diligence and Assessing Project Risks: SRK Consulting on Thursday May 11 from 7:30 am to 12:30 pm. Registration includes breakfast and lunch.
Workshop IV. (A.) How to Quickly and Reliably Estimate Mining Costs: Costmine Intelligence on Thursday May 11 from 8:00 am to 9:45 am. Registration and breakfast start at 7:15 am. (B.) Valuing Mineral Assets and Operations – Understanding Valuation Issues in a Changing World: Alan Stagg Consultants from 10 am to 11:45 am. Registration includes lunch.
Thursday May 11th from 11:30 including lunch until 4:30 pm
Workshop V. Pathway to Mining Project Success: Independent Project Analysis (IPA): Baqun Ding, Master Analyst, and Astor Luft, North America Regional Director on Thursday May 11 from Noon to 4:30 pm. Registration includes lunch and refreshment break.
Below are the details about each of the workshops.
On Monday May 8, 2023 there are two afternoon workshops. Registration and lunch start at 11:30 am, workshops begin at about noon. After the workshops at Shearman & Sterling is a reception and dinner starting at about 4:45 pm, with dinner and two guest speakers from 5:45 to 7:20 pm.
Workshop I. (A.) Managing Construction Risks and Mitigating Consequences on Mining Projects by Shearman & Sterling LLP: Christopher Ryan, Partner, International Arbitration practice and Jesse Sherrett, Partner, International Arbitration practice. Noon to 2:15 pm (B.) Assessment of the Productivity of a Mining Project Through a Mine-to-Mill Reconciliation of Post Investment Reviews by Geo Global LLC: Dr. Abani R. Samal, Principal and by RESPEC: Peter Christensen, RM-SME, Principal. 2:30 to 4:45 pm.
(A.) Managing Construction Risks and Mitigating Consequences on Mining Projects: Mining operations are highly regulated and subject to significant development, technical, geological, commercial, political, legal and other risks. As a result, over 80% of mining projects are not completed within the parameters set out in the feasibility study. As a result, often greenfield mine construction experiences significant delays and cost overruns. This Workshop will explore how companies can manage the risks and mitigate the consequences of delays, cost overruns, and other types of obstacles arising from major capital investments that can occur throughout the life of a project. The panel will examine these issues at three critical phases: contract formation; project execution; and dispute resolution.
Christopher Ryan is a partner in the International Arbitration practice of Shearman & Sterling. He has extensive experience in international arbitration and litigation, and has represented private and State clients in disputes before ICC, AAA, ICSID, UNCITRAL, LCIA, ad hoc arbitral tribunals, and U.S. federal courts. His practice focuses on commercial and investment disputes in the construction, infrastructure, mining, and energy sectors. He has advised U.S. and other companies on issues of public and private international law, investment and trade policy, and strategies for mitigating the risks associated with foreign investment. Christopher Ryan also serves as a Lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Law and the George Washington School of Law, where he teaches a course on international investment arbitration and international commercial arbitration, respectively.
Jesse Sherrett is a partner in the International Arbitration practice of Shearman & Sterling. Jesse represents public and private sector clients in complex multinational disputes across a range of sectors including the engineering and construction, government, energy, mining, private equity, maritime, sports, IT industries. Jesse currently represents multinational clients in arbitrations and court litigation in North America, Europe and the Middle East. Jesse has represented clients in arbitrations conducted under the ICC, LMAA, LCIA, and National Hockey League Rules and has appeared before several state and federal courts in the United States.
(B.) Assessment of the Productivity of a Mining Project Through a Mine-to-Mill Reconciliation of Post Investment Reviews: This workshop is intended to start a dialogue on the post-investment review during the life of the mine in order to check if the mine is achieving the production target. In many cases, mines do achieve production targets and it is an opportunity to learn the reasons for such achievements. Mining operations, where production seems to be underperforming compared to plan, need special attention for better understanding the reasons for such results. Sometimes, the production plan can be unrealistic and is not based on ground truth. There are many other reasons for production not matching with the plan on a monthly or quarterly or yearly time scale. In many cases, large mining companies conduct a post-investment review of the productivity thereby helping them to realize the truth about the project. The mining finance companies and investors should conduct such reviews to ensure that the investment would result in a good return.
Dr. Abani R. Samal has been working in the mining industry since 1996. He is the owner and principal of GeoGlobal, LLC based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Dr. Samal provides consulting services to exploration and mining companies and major financial institutions worldwide. He provided strategic advice to government agencies through the World Bank for the development of mineral resources. Dr. Samal offers professional development programs to industry professionals and academic researchers worldwide. Dr. Samal holds a PhD from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, DIC & MS from Imperial College in London, and Montana Tech (Mineral Exploration) degree from IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, India. He is a Registered Member and Fellow of SME and a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geology (SEG) and a Certified Professional Geologist (CPG).
Peter Christensen, RM- SME has extensive international mining experience. He is a principal consultant at RESPEC and has held senior positions with major mining companies, contractors, and service providers. Mr. Christensen has experience in managing feasibility studies, mine development, mining method and equipment selection, mine planning, cost estimation, and reserves estimation. He has conducted due diligence on mining assets on all continents; economic and financial evaluations of mining operations; reserve audits; operational and HSE audits; provided litigation support; and reviewed mining projects, cost structures, and operating performance. His commodity experience includes coal, lignite, potash, trona, salt, oil sands, oil shale, gold, silver, copper, beryllium, tin, nickel, bauxite, mineral sands, limestone, aggregates, and clays.
Workshop II. S-K 1300 Disclosure by Registrants Engaged in Mining Operations by Greg Gosson, Ph.D., P,Geo., Technical Director, Geology & Compliance, Wood plc. and Stella Searston, FAusIMM, MAIG, RM SME, Principal Geologist, Mine Technical Services Ltd. (MTS) on Monday May 8 from 11:30 am to 4:45 pm (registration includes lunch and Monday evening reception and dinner).
This workshop will focus on unique challenges the new S-K 1300 standards have created when preparing mining studies and mineral property disclosure for critical metals and minerals needed for the green economy. The challenges to be discussed are directed at specific requirements for the defined mining studies under S-K 1300, the need to show how a process method or plant design has never been used commercially in order to support mineral resources and mineral reserves, the need for market studies to support the mineral resources and mineral reserves for these unique deposits, and the availability of properly qualified persons to sign off on the many unique aspects of these deposits and their mines.
Greg Gosson has 40 years in mining industry in exploration, mine operations, and senior company management.; five years as Chief Mining Advisor of the BC Securities Commission; Led the project to revise NI 43-101 in 2005; Involved in drafting legislation on Civil Liability under BC Securities Act, and NI 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations; Former chair, current member of the Mining Technical Advisory and Monitoring Committee on NI 43-101: industry advisory group to the Canadian securities regulators; Member of the PDAC Securities Committee and Mining advisory committee to Canadian Securities Administrators on NI 43-101 (MTAMC); Member of the CIM Committee on Mineral Resources and Reserves (and Best Practices); Member of the CIM‐CSA Working Committee on NI 43-101; 12+ years as Technical Director, Geology & Compliance with Wood.
Stella Searston, RM SME, F.Aus IMM, AIG; Principal Geologist, Mine Technical Services Ltd.; Member of: CIM Mineral Resource and Reserve Committee; SME Resources/Reserves Committee. Technical reviews, audits, and specialist studies including due diligence and governance/compliance appraisals. Prepared technical aspects of listing and filing documents, independent expert and competent person reports for various exchanges, including AIM, HKEx, ASX, JSE as well as Canadian exchanges. Part of peer review of major mining studies (PEA, PFS, FS) Prepared/reviewed/compiled over 480 NI 43-101 technical reports, and over 20 reports under S-K1300.
On Thursday May 11 there are two morning workshops. Registration and breakfast start at 7:15 am, with lunch. Afternoon workshop registration starts at 11:45 am with lunch and ends at 4:30 pm.
Workshop III. Critical Aspects for Technical Due Diligence and Assessing Project Risks by SRK Consulting: Ben Parsons, Principal Resource Geologist; Matthew Sullivan, Principal Mineral Economist; Bob McCarthy, Principal Consultant (Mining); Jeff Parshley, Corporate Consultant, Environment; Jane Joughin, Corporate Consultant (Sustainability) on Thursday May 11. Registration and breakfast starts at 7:15 am. Workshop begins at 8:15 am and includes lunch starting at 11:45 am.
SRK discipline experts will present on common observations, key items that regularly represent project risk, due diligence philosophy and approach, and the importance of a tailored experience in a Due Diligence team. SRK performs fatal flaw through deep dive due diligences globally, across commodities, and mining methods. The exposure to a variety of global projects at various stages provides a unique visibility on what to look for, what questions to ask, how to identify “red flag” items as early as possible, and when to take a deeper dive to assess a project’s technical risk. The order of subjects, topics and issues this workshop will address are:
* Introduction and General Objectives of Technical Due Diligence
* Geology and Mineral Resources
* Mine engineering and Reserves
Break
* Metallurgy and Minerals Processing
* ESG and Sustainability
* Mine Closure
* Economics
* Q&A and General Wrap Up
Ben Parsons, Principal Resource Geologist, has over 20 years of broad geological experience, including precious metals, base metals, and more recently niobium and phosphate mining. Ben’s expertise includes the production of independent mineral resource estimates, geological modelling, due diligence and auditing of exploration/mining projects, review of operation performance, technical reviews, and assistance in project evaluation as part of Competent Person’s/Mineral Expert Reports and stock exchange listings. Ben has project management experience in technical studies such as exploration programs, mineral resource and ore reserve studies, scoping/conceptual studies, pre/definitive feasibility study projects, working with junior exploration companies at grassroots exploration level through to the listing of large multi-national operating companies with multiple assets. He has extensive experience in databases, QA/QC, developing geological models, mineral resource estimates, geostatistical optimization, grade control practices, and reconciliation studies, all reported in accordance with international reporting codes, such as CIM, JORC, SEC, SAMREC, etc.
Matthew Sullivan, Principal Mineral Economist, has over 12 years of experience analyzing, optimizing, and valuing mining operations from internal and external positions. Matthew has extensive experience designing and leading diligence processes for mining assets ranging from early-stage exploration through to operating mines. He has priced, negotiated, and closed mining deals across the globe in a wide variety of commodities via structures ranging from royalty and equity investment to term and convertible debt facilities. His experience as a mining sector buy-side professional funding the development and operation of mining assets provides a unique perspective on what it takes to study, build, operate, manage risk, and invest in the mining sector. His specializations include mining sector financial modeling and analysis; merger and acquisitions, due diligence planning and execution, strategic business planning and initiatives, risk management and assessments, operations research and optimizations, and process controls and improvements.
Bob McCarthy, Principal Consultant (Mining) is a professional mining engineer with over 30 years’ experience in mine operations, mine planning, asset management, technology development and implementation, and consulting. He has worked at numerous mines, across different departments, in a variety of technical and management roles. Bob’s technical strengths are in project evaluation, mine planning, mine site and project reviews (audits), and technology implementation. He is particularly specialized in In-Pit Crushing and Conveying evaluations as well as assessments for the application of pre-concentration using various approaches. Bob is considered an open pit mine specialist, and as such is a qualified/competent person for mineral reserves as defined in NI 43-101/JORC. He is also a qualified financial modeler for mining projects.
Jeff Parshley, Corporate Consultant (Environment) has over 40 years of environmental and closure experience in the mining industry. Jeff specializes in closure planning and closure cost estimation. In addition to doing planning and analysis work for mines, he has been involved in the management of abandoned mines and the implementation of closure works at several mines in the western United States. Having worked with legal and policy aspects of mining projects since his early career, Jeff regularly contributes to World Bank and IFC compliance projects and is one of SRK’s most experienced mine closure strategists and regulatory specialists. He has helped develop regulatory guidelines for mine closure and closure cost estimating and has also helped clients develop corporate standards and guidance documents for closure planning, implementation, and cost estimating.
Jane Joughin, Corporate Consultant (Sustainability), has 30 years of experience providing sustainability consulting services to the mining industry, mostly in Africa, Europe and Central Asia. She has much experience undertaking assessment, permitting and auditing of mines, coupled with a thorough understanding of ESG concepts and key standards. She also provides ESG input to mineral resource and mineral reserve estimation and the planning of mining projects. Currently she is assisting clients with updating of capital project study guidelines to address new corporate commitments to ESG and responsible mining standards.
Workshop IV. (A.) How to Quickly and Reliably Estimate Mining Costs by Sam Blakely, Senior Mining Engineer at Costmine Intelligence on Thursday May 11 starting at 8:00 - 9:45 am. (B.) Valuing Mineral Assets and Operations: Understanding Valuation Issues in a Changing World by Alan Stagg from Alan Stagg Consultants from 10 - 11:45 am. Registration and breakfast start at 7:15 am. Lunch starts at 11:45 am.
(A.) How to Quickly and Reliably Estimate Mining Costs: Realistically estimating the costs associated with mining and mineral processing are vital steps in creating mining financial models, such as for valuations and funding decisions, that are highly relevant to a singular mining project. But the practice of mining cost estimating is often intimidating as evaluators are asked to consider all costs over the life of a project using technical data from unfamiliar fields. In this way, engineering-based (i.e., bottom-up) methods of cost estimation can be particularly time consuming and may be seen as unachievable depending on the evaluator’s background. However, modern solutions exist to guide evaluators through this process, and enable them to easily handle the significant volume of work associated with engineering-based estimates in a timely manner. This workshop (led by Sam Blakely, Costmine’s Senior Mining Engineer) offers a chance to learn how to, at a scoping- through pre-feasibility-level, efficiently create defendable engineering-based mining and mineral processing cost estimates using Sherpa, a suite of web-based cost estimating applications from Costmine. Emphasis will be given to open-pit mining cost estimating using Sherpa Surface. The opportunity to explore three other Sherpa applications (Underground, Processing, and Reclamation) will also be provided to interested participants during the later portion of the workshop. Note: To access Sherpa Surface via your laptop’s web browser during this course, each preregistered participant/ delegate will be provided with temporary login credentials. Therefore, we highly encourage all participants to attend with their own laptop computers for this portion of the course.
Sam Blakely began his career in mining as a geologist and is now employed as the Senior Mining Engineer with Costmine in Spokane, WA USA. He has experience with diverse commodities, from precious metals through industrial minerals, contributing to mineral development and exploration projects in East Africa, South America and across the United States. Sam now concentrates on engineering-based mining cost estimating for Costmine; he contributes to many of Costmine’s publications, works to improve and expand a suite of mining cost estimating software alongside a team of developers, and consults directly for clients. Sam holds a B.S. in Geology as well as an M.S. in Mining Engineering and Management and serves on the board of the Columbia Section of SME.
Mike Sinden, Vice President, Costmine Intelligence has over 20 years experience in the natural resources sector, predominantly in the area of research and data collection, as well as product management. He spent 18 years at Wood Mackenzie, working in metals and ferrous market research, well as supporting institutional investor clients leverage the platform for research and mining due diligence purposes. At Costmine, he leads the research business as we grow our mine property database, equipment and labor cost data, estimation tools and software, where we serve engineers, financial professionals and governments. Mr. Sinden holds a B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University as well as an MBA from Duke University.
Costmine Intelligence - Costmine has been tracking mine equipment and labor costs for 40 years, using proprietary cost models to help operators, service providers, banks and investors build reliable mine capex and opex estimates for a range of commodities and mine types. Costmine also maintains a vast database of 40k mine properties globally, helping customers screen for opportunities from early exploration through to closed assets.
(B.) Valuing Mineral Assets and Operations: Understanding Valuation Issues in a Changing World: The need to establish the value of mineral assets and operations arises in many contexts—acquisitions and divestitures, investment decision-making, collateralizing assets, public reporting, financial accounting, shareholder disputes, and a variety of other adversarial actions. Each can entail a different set of issues and, accordingly, each may require the determination of a different standard of value. Societal changes, notably the increasing emphasis on Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) investing, is taking the mining world into uncharted waters relative to the concept of “value,” and the workshop will identify some of the areas of tension that have or can be expected to arise.
In conducting any valuation, two concepts should be kept in mind: 1) value is a perception and 2) there are various standards of value. Regarding the first, it should be noted that value is not inherent in the goods, commodity, or service to which it is ascribed but rather is created in the minds of those who make up the market. Regarding the second, it should be noted that value expresses an economic concept and, as such, is never a fact but always an opinion. In expressing such an opinion, the term “value” must be accompanied by a specific definition of the term and the term must also be qualified, for example: market value, liquidation value, investment value, and so forth. This workshop is designed to provide participants the basic foundation to allow the selection of appropriate standards of value and valuation approaches and techniques. This workshop is intended to benefit both those who conduct valuations and those who may be required to use them.
Alan K. Stagg, PG, CMA is President & CEO, Stagg Resource Consultants, Inc. Alan is an economic geologist with 59 years’ experience in the mining, minerals, and energy industries with the last 45 including an increasing emphasis on mineral appraisals and economic evaluations. He had conducted appraisals in more than 40 states in a variety of venues and internationally, and has participated in numerous acquisition-related due diligence activities. Stagg is a registered or licensed professional geologist in 15 states, a Certified Mineral Appraiser by the International Institute of Minerals Appraisers, and an SME Registered Member.
Thursday May 11 afternoon workshop: registration and lunch at 11:45 am, workshop begins at 12:30 pm and ends at 4:30 pm, with a 20 minute refreshment break at 2:20 pm.
Workshop V. Pathway to Mining Project Success by Independent Project Analysis (IPA): Baqun Ding, Master Analyst, and Astor Luft, North America Regional Director. Registration and lunch at 11:45 am, workshop begins at 12:30 pm and ends at 4:30 pm, with a 20 minute refreshment break at 2:20 pm.
The journey from discovering a mineral deposit to turning it into a profitable operational asset is long. Along the way, many decisions are made by different groups of people. Clear understanding of the risks and use of lessons learned from others to avoid/mitigate risk should be part of the main stream of work from the beginning to the end. Over the course of IPA’s 36 years in business, we have continuously worked with companies from different industry sectors across the world, advising on best practices for capital project planning and management. We have collected and verified the results of thousands of projects with different sizes and complexities, via face-to-face interviews with owner project teams. Using the data collected, we then conducted research studies to identify the key factors that consistently enable project success. Through individual project consulting and evaluation services, we share the learnings with current projects. These include not only industry-specific learnings, but also cross-industry, cross-regional, and special case learnings. IPA’s Pathway to Success facilitates the sharing of our projects experiences with the industry. The pathway lists all the critical factors of a mine asset development journey, and highlights what, who, and how this path should be established, so that the project outcomes, or final path destination, will meet all the business and project targets.
In this workshop, we will walk our audience through IPA’s pathway to mining project success, and elaborate on each factor to provide an understanding of the important tasks along a mine asset development venture. This workshop will include a roughly 2-hour long presentation introducing the basics of key factors that drive mine asset project success, followed by a 1-hour long case study of a project evaluation, and a Q&A session.
Baqun Ding is a Master Analysis with IPA. His main role is supporting project analysts in conducting complex project analyses and research analysts in project studies and IP development. Dr. Ding was the business area manager for IPA’s MMM sector and a member of IPA’s Review Board. Over the past 17 years, he has also worked as a Senior Analyst, involved in the analysis of hundreds of complex projects from different industries. His expertise covers orebody evaluation, feasibility studies, and mine planning and design. Before joining IPA, Dr. Ding was an assistant professor at Delft University of Technology, a Researcher and Project Coordinator at Queen’s University in Canada, and a Senior Mining Engineer with China Gold. Dr. Ding was educated in mining engineering at Wuhan University of Technology (B.Sc.), the University of Science and Technology, Beijing (M.Sc.) in China, and Queen’s University (Ph.D.) in Canada.
Astor Luft is IPA’s Director of North America. In this role, he oversees IPA’s North American operations, leading a team of analysts and senior consultants on the delivery of IPA services to our North America-based clients. He is also responsible for strengthening IPA’s relationship with global and local clients in the region and forging new partnerships with owner companies in the energy, minerals, infrastructure, chemicals, pharmaceutical, and consumer products sectors. Astor’s areas of expertise include project system improvements, portfolio management, and megaproject risk assessment. Astor holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Federal University of Parana and a specialist degree in Project Management from the FAE Business School, both in Brazil.
Workshops are opportunities to meet, exchange ideas, and ask questions of instructors and fellow delegates. Instructors are subject matter experts who will discuss key issues, examples and case studies about best practices, and current trends with plenty of time to engage with attendees. To register to attend a workshop you do not have to be registered to attend the conference on Tuesday May 9 and Wednesday May 10. New York professionals, e.g. financial, investment and equity analysts, portfolio managers, bankers, investors are welcome to register to attend. Space is limited*. The organizers reserve the right to close registration early.
Below is Graham Clow, P.Eng., Chairman & Principal Mining Engineer of RPA leading a CTMF 2017 workshop 
Below is Michael Samis from SCM Decisions leading a CTMF 2019 workshop about the Impact of Political Risk
After the workshops on Monday May 8, 2023 there will be a welcome reception from 5:30 to 7:45 pm. All registered Monday workshop delegates are included on the registration list to attend the Monday Welcome Reception. (Those of you wanting to only attend the Welcome Reception are able to register for that separately at the registration site). You do not have to attend the conference to register for any of the workshops or receptions.
The photo below is from a CTMF workshop. Get your questions answered. We invite you to join us!
Register today to attend any of the workshops, receptions and or the conference. We look forward to seeing you in New York City!
Register now to attend any of the workshops, the conference and evening receptions. You do not have to attend the conference to register to attend workshops or receptions. *Space is limited.
Photo is of CTMF 2017 workshop by Simon Moores, CEO, Benchmark Minerals re Battery Metals Supply Chains 
We hope to see you at
SME's 8th Current Trends in Mining Finance Conference
Managing Risk and Identifying Opportunities in a Disruptive World
- Where Finding, Financing and Securing Supply is Critical
Connecting Mining, Finance and Engineering Executives TM
Monday May 8 - Thursday May 11, 2023
All workshop, conference and reception attendees must register in advance. Visit these tabs for more about receptions, suggestions for hotels and updates about the agenda and schedule changes. We hope to see you there!
*Space is limited. The organizers will be monitoring registrations periodically and may need to closer close registration before the event dates. Registration closed early in 2018 and 2017. We may require some registered conference delegates to be present in a second board conference room that will have live video and audio feed to the main conference room or conference rooms G/H/J and or to attend in a third board room to watch and hear via live audio/visual feed. Additional rooms and space adjacent to the main conference room are places to relax, network, meet one on one for quiet shared conversations or work.