Copper Concentrate Mine NPV and IRR Valuation Model – Excel XLSX

BENEFITS OF THIS DOWNLOADABLE EXCEL DOCUMENT

1. Values a copper concentrate project with treatment and refining charges, payables, freight and NSR royalty built in.
2. Reports C1 cash cost and AISC per pound net of the gold by-product credit.
3. Shows which assumptions move value most, with a tornado chart and a price by grade NPV grid.

MINING INDUSTRY EXCEL DESCRIPTION

Copper Concentrate Mine NPV and IRR Valuation Model is an Excel template (XLSX) available for immediate download upon purchase.

This Excel model values an open-pit copper project that sells concentrate, as a first-pass screen before a PEA, an acquisition call or an investment committee. Enter reserves, copper and gold grades, mining rate, recoveries, concentrate terms, costs, capital, tax and your price decks; the model builds the life-of-mine schedule and the concentrate economics for you.

What is the model used for?

To see what a copper concentrate project is worth, how sensitive it is to price, grade and costs, how much funding it needs, and how much the gold by-product contributes.

Key outputs
• After-tax NPV and IRR, payback and peak funding requirement
• Payable copper (kt and Mlb) and by-product gold (koz)
• C1 cash cost and AISC per lb copper, net of by-product credit
• Annual and cumulative free cash flow charts
• Sensitivity: tornado table for metal price, grade, operating cost and capex, plus a 5×5 price × grade NPV grid

Concentrate economics built in
• Concentrate tonnes from copper grade, recovery and concentrate grade
• Copper and gold payables, treatment charge (US$/dmt) and refining charges (US$/lb Cu, US$/oz Au)
• Freight on wet tonnes using concentrate moisture
• Royalty on net smelter return (NSR)
• Set the gold grade to 0 for a copper-only project

Built-in simplifications (stated on the Guide sheet)
• Annual, real-terms, end-of-year cash flows, discounted to the start of construction
• No penalty elements; single payable rate for gold
• Straight-line depreciation of initial capex; no tax-loss carry-forward or working capital
• Flat average grade (overwrite the grade rows for a grade profile)

What you get
• One .xlsx file with 5 sheets: Guide, Summary, Inputs, Cash Flow, Sensitivity
• 1,445 live formulas, no macros, no hidden sheets, no locked cells or passwords
• Blue-on-yellow input cells; every output can be traced back to an input
• All labels in English and Simplified Chinese
• Works in Excel 2016+ / Microsoft 365 and LibreOffice

How to work with the template
• On the Inputs sheet, replace every yellow cell with your project's numbers.
• Enter your price deck for each production year.
• Read the results on the Summary sheet and check the annual detail on Cash Flow.
• Use the Sensitivity sheet to see which assumption moves NPV the most, then use the scenario factors on Inputs to test your own cases.

Who is it for?

Mining analysts and investors screening a deal, junior-miner management preparing a first-pass economic case, corporate development and M&A teams, consultants, lenders, and students learning mine valuation.

Important notes
• The example project and all figures are fictional and for illustration only.
• This is a modelling template for screening and education. It is not investment advice and is not a substitute for an NI 43-101 / JORC technical study or a Competent / Qualified Person's opinion.
• You receive the fully editable Excel file.

About the author

Built by an investment and M&A professional working on the buy side in gold mining and industrials in Hong Kong and Singapore. Custom adaptations to your project data are available on request.

Source: Best Practices in Mining Industry, Integrated Financial Model Excel: Copper Concentrate Mine NPV and IRR Valuation Model Excel (XLSX) Spreadsheet, gx76520