Training Courses

Financial Modelling for Mining Projects

Reserve and production scheduling, price decks, offtake and mine-life economics. Build a robust financial model for a mining project from first principles, with a focus on how project finance bankers, investors and financiers would analyse it, so it stands up to the scrutiny of any audience.

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  • 3 daysPractitioner-led
  • Hands-onYou build the model,
    not watch one being built
  • In person or digitalDelivered in person
    and worldwide online
  • Take awayThe completed model files
    and templates

Who this is for

For anyone modelling a mine, screening to operations

This hands-on course covers the must-know topics for modelling a mining project: funding mechanics, physical production and operations analysis, and the investment metrics that project finance bankers, investors and other external parties use to assess it.

Working confidence in Excel is assumed; no prior financial modelling course is required. The course builds the modelling methodology from first principles before applying it across the full mine lifecycle, from PFS and BFS through to financial close and operations.

You will get the most from this course if

  • You need to build a mining project model that will withstand scrutiny from financiers and investors, not just internal review
  • You want a structured approach to physical production: reserves, stockpiles, grade and yield, not only the financial outputs
  • You need to build project finance debt and covenant analysis specific to mining, including reserve life coverage and C1/C2/C3 cost profiles
  • You want a repeatable framework for scenario management and commodity price sensitivity

What you will learn

From mine lifecycle to investment metrics

Thirteen modules take you from the lifecycle of a mining model through physical production, revenue, project finance debt, mining-specific metrics and investment analysis.

The mining model lifecycle

  • Explore the different functionality and expectations of a technical model versus a financial model for an investment decision
  • Understand what financiers and investors look for when assessing a financial model during investment, project finance or due diligence
  • Identify typical pain points from a financial modelling perspective across the mine lifecycle, from PFS and BFS to financial close and operations

Master proven modelling technique

  • Understand the ten foundation principles of our best-practice financial modelling methodology, and how they apply to mining
  • Review the visual representation of the methodology, highlighting good versus bad modelling technique using real-life examples
  • Master consistency across your team in calculation technique and presentation, to drive trust and reliability in comparable analysis

A robust, scalable model foundation

  • Build a flexible timing structure using date functions and binary flags, essential for scalability and flexibility
  • Construct modularised units that form the building blocks of a professional model, for transparency and rapid expansion or modification
  • Establish key constants in the model using the full scope of Excel’s range name function

Physical production modelling

  • Structure assumptions for mine reserves and production, including mining and milling, flexibly and transparently
  • Develop stockpile calculation, grade analysis, and levels and yields modules, ready for sensitivity and scenario analysis
  • Understand the flow of physical calculations and how they interact with the full financial model

Comprehensive revenue calculation

  • Incorporate pricing path flexibility to analyse different views on future commodity pricing
  • Model hedging contracts, and discuss how typical instruments can be incorporated
  • Develop a scenario manager in Excel to assess the revenue impact of different production cases

Integrated financial statements

  • Extend the cashflow waterfall functionality into integrated financial statements
  • Master the structured process of developing a balance sheet with no balancing items
  • Integrate integrity checks and logic assessment of the model workings to avoid errors

Cashflow waterfalls and seniority

  • Expand the model to incorporate cash flow available for debt service (CFADS), a fundamental line item for project finance analysis
  • Build transparent calculation steps to show the cashflow waterfall principles and the cashflow available at every significant step
  • Understand the risk of circular references in Excel, and how to avoid them with clear logic and simple rules

Project finance debt analysis

  • Structure term debt and annuity repayment from first principles, for full transparency in analysis
  • Develop functionality for target debt service coverage ratio repayment
  • Discuss alternative debt repayment options, such as linear and bullet, and how these are modelled in project finance

Mining-specific metrics

  • Model depreciation on a life-of-mine basis
  • Understand how a reserve life coverage ratio feeds into a project finance bank’s credit process
  • Account for the value of stockpile inventory, and calculate C1, C2 and C3 cost profiles

Covenants and investment metrics

  • Learn the importance of credit ratios and their purpose in analysis
  • Build the ratios commonly used in project finance banking, including DSCR, LLCR, PLCR and RLCR, from first principles
  • Extract key metrics from ratios using a range of advanced Excel functions

Returns and dividends policy

  • Discuss the reason for, and impact of, dividends policy on the valuation of mining projects
  • Integrate internal rate of return and NPV, and understand the role of the discount rate
  • Learn the differences between NPV and XNPV functions, and common errors in their application

Sensitivity and scenario analysis

  • Save time and deliver rapid analysis with our approach to scenario management
  • Use the scenario manager for dynamic integrity testing across every scenario, live at the same time
  • Build confidence in your analysis through pre-programmed combinations of model inputs

Advanced Excel for multi-dimensional sensitivities

  • Develop simple macros to avoid the circularities common in project finance calculations
  • Become familiar with the VBA environment and its core functionality
  • Discuss common errors when starting to develop macros, and how to make macros more efficient
  • Use VBA to control data tables so they do not adversely affect calculation speed

Next available dates

Upcoming courses

How the course runs

You learn modelling by modelling

Interactive, instructor-led and built on a single modelling standard that has been taught to more than 20,000 people. You build the model yourself with individual coaching through every exercise, and you keep the completed files.

This course also runs privately: see in-house training for delivery built around your team and sector, or browse the full course portfolio.

Your trainer

Learn from a practitioner

Our courses are led by experienced members of our financial modelling and model audit teams. The trainer below runs this course frequently, but your session could be led by any member of our team.

Alex Portnoy

Alex Portnoy

Partner, Sydney

Alex leads the financial model development team in the APAC region. He has 19 years of financial modelling experience, with a focus on M&A transactions, valuations and corporate and operational business reporting. His experience spans many aspects of a transaction, having worked on the developer, bidder and vendor side of projects. Alex’s recent project sectors include natural resources, energy, utilities and property development.

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Book this course

Dates, prices and online booking are on the course schedule. Not sure it is the right course? Ask us.

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