Featured Projects
Newmont Royalty Evaluation and Review
Location: Colorado
Commodity: Gold
Behre Dolbear Capital was retained to assist Newmont Mining Corporation in evaluating alternatives for disposal of its royalty assets The Royalty Portfolio includes a large number of mineral, and oil and gas royalties. Specifically, BDC was asked to provide a five-year history and 15-year projection of estimated production volumes by mine as well as by major commodity; a five-year history of operating costs, by project, and an opinion as to the reasonableness of Newmont cost projections; a detailed analysis of the Goldstrike and Stillwater projects; a qualitative assessment of the prospects for the 'development assets'; and a review of public data highlighting both potential high level risks and upside potential. The evaluation methodology was been built around three concepts: 1) identify and focus on the assets that appear to provide the maximum value; 2) test these assets for 'fatal flaws' and, if none are found, provide estimated values; and 3) use public information and data supplied by Newmont (854670).
Siana Gold BFS Independent Engineer's Review
Location: Philippines
Commodity: Gold
Behre Dolbear was retained to conduct an Independent Engineer review of the Bankable Feasibility Study of the Siana gold project currently under development in the Philippines. The assignment included a review of resources and reserves estimates, mine plans and schedules, life of mine plans, metallurgical testwork and process plant design, environmental and Equator Principles aspects, capital and operating cost estimates, project construction and implementation plans, financial models and risk assessment. The project is on the island of Northern Mindanao, near Surigao City (855519).
Valuation and Expert Witness
Location: California
Commodity: Gold
Behre Dolbear was engaged to determine the fair-market value of Glamis Gold Limited's Imperial Gold project located in eastern Imperial County, California. In 2002, the project was rendered uneconomic when the State of California enacted legislation requiring the complete backfilling and recontouring of all open pit metallic mines. The Imperial project was specifically cited as the reason for the legislation. At that time, the project was fully engineered and nearing its final permitting. It was, however, the subject of controversial claims of spiritual and physical use of the lands by Native Americans. Behre Dolbear's assignment was two-fold: first, to independently determine the fair-market value of the property prior to enactment of the backfilling regulation; and second, to independently determine the fair-market value after enactment of the legislation. Behre Dolbear provided expert witness testimony in the case of Glamis Gold Ltd. v. the United States of America in an arbitration hearing at the International Centre For The Settlement of Investment Disputes under the North American Free Trade Agreement concerning the expropriation of Glamis' properties. The outcome of the hearing is pending. (702086)
Chromium Deposits CPR
Location: Zimbabwe
Commodity: Chromium
Behre Dolbear was retained to conduct a short technical review was undertaken to evaluate the potential of the Northridge chromium deposit and to determine the viability of proceeding with further exploration. This was primarily carried out on existing small scale mining operations within the defined claims area (854731).
Technical Review and Valuation
Location: Mongolia
Commodity: Copper, Gold
Behre Dolbear was selected to perform the technical review and valuation of the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project in Mongolia, including reviews of reserves and resources, infrastructure, proposed mining and processing plans, and final product sales. The review initially focused on the open-pit mining phase, followed by a technical review of the underground mine plan. The reports were prepared to assist the client in an analysis of the risks that might be inherent in the project in the context of proposed financing. (780533)
Update of IPO Technical Report
Location: China
Commodity: Gold
In support of Zhaojin Mining Industry Company Limited's IPO on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong ('SEHK'), Behre Dolbear was engaged to serve as its independent technical advisor. Behre Dolbear prepared a technical review of the client's five operating gold mines and one gold concentrate cyanidation plant in Zhaoyuan, Shandong Province and of two exploration properties in other locations in China. Zhaojin is one of the largest gold mining companies in China. The company successfully completed a listing on the SEHK and raised more than US$280 million in November 2006, with a 530 times over-subscription. (780173)
Technical Review for Initial Public Offering
Location: China, Pakistan
Commodity: Tungsten, Molybdenum, Bismuth, Antimony, Lead, Zinc
Behre Dolbear was retained by Hunan Nonferrous Metals Corporation Limited as their independent technical advisor and prepared a technical report on the company's three nonferrous metals mines, including one of the world's largest tungsten-molybdenum-bismuth mines, one of the world's largest antimony mines, and one lead-zinc mine. The report was included in the client's IPO prospectus for the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong ('SEHK'). The client was successfully listed on the SEHK in March 2006, and raised a total of more than US$260 million, with a 700 times over-subscription. (702258)
Independent Engineer
Location: Namibia
Commodity: Uranium
Behre Dolbear was engaged as the Independent Engineer to monitor construction and commissioning of the Langer Heinrich uranium project. Services included establishment of contractual reporting protocols and completion test (CT) criteria, monitoring and reporting on commissioning, satisfaction of CT, startup confirmation, and monitoring of ongoing operations. (781540)
Independent Technical Assessment for IPO
Location: China
Commodity: Lead, Zinc
Western Mining Company Limited engaged Behre Dolbear to provide an independent technical assessment of their mining and metallurgical properties. This was to support Western Mining's IPO on The Shanghai Stock Exchange ('SSE'). The assessment covered four operating mines, (the Xitieshan lead-zinc-silver mine and the Saishitang copper mine in Qinghai, the Huogeqi copper polymetallic mine in Inner Mongolia, and the Gacun silver polymetallic mine in Sichuan), one development project (the Yulong copper project in Tibet), three smelters and one refinery (a zinc smelter, a lead smelter, a lead refinery and an aluminum smelter in Qinghai). The company successfully completed a listing on the SSE in July 2007, and raised RMB6.2 billion ($816.4 million) after attracting orders for more than 200 times the shares available. (781755)
Independent Engineer's Services
Location: Egypt
Commodity: Magnesium
Behre Dolbear was selected as the Independent Engineers (IE) to the banking consortium on the design, construction, commissioning, and completion test phases of the EMAG magnesium project in Egypt. Phase I of the IE involved technical due diligence of the project prior to committing to construction and implementation. It involved all technical aspects, including resources and reserves, feed product transport, process design, infrastructure, and environmental issues. (782544)
Strategic Plan Development
Location: Jordan
Commodity: Phosphate
Behre Dolbear assisted management of a phosphate mining company in developing a 10-year strategic business plan for the expansion of the company's business and identified a number of actions plans to reduce costs and improve productivity to make the mine one of the world's low-cost producers of phosphate fertilizer products. Behre Dolbear also developed a financial model to evaluate the strategic business plans and action plans to rank the economic viability, and to prioritize the implementation of various alternatives. (783975)
Technical Review of Two Operating Mines
Location: China
Commodity: Copper, Molybdenum
China Mining Resource Group Limited, a Stock Exchange of Hong Kong ('SEHK')-listed company, engaged Behre Dolbear to conduct an independent technical review of two operating copper-molybdenum mines in Harbin, China that use underground mining and flotation processing methods to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates. The purpose of the review was to support acquisition of the mines by the client. The technical report was filed with the circular to shareholders, as well as with the SEHK. China Mining Resources was successful in raising HK$2.45 billion (US$315 million) from the sale of new shares to be used for the acquisition in June 2007. (845718)
Independent Technical Review of Processing Operations
Location: New South Wales
Commodity: Mineral Sands
A leading mineral industry financial institution commissioned Behre Dolbear to conduct an independent technical review of the construction, commissioning, and operation of BeMax Resources' minerals sands and processing plant at its Gingko operation and of the feasibility of its Snapper project in New South Wales. Behre Dolbear subsequently was appointed as Independent Engineer, monitoring construction, issuing draw-down certificates, and monitoring and certifying the banker's completion test. (848435)
Independent Engineer for a Bankable Feasibility Study
Location: Australia
Commodity: Iron Ore
Behre Dolbear was engaged as the Independent Engineers to the Bankable Feasibility Study on the Fortescue iron-ore project in Western Australia. The assignment included a review of the resource and reserve estimation, mining, processing, railing, and port facilities. It is a 'high level' report, without the detail of a full-scale due diligence, but involving review of all the usual geological, mining, processing, capital and operating costs, production ramp-up, and environmental aspects. (850646)
Due Diligence Review
Location: Brazil
Commodity: Talc, Magnesite ,Dolomite
Behre Dolbear was engaged to carried out a scoping due diligence review of the mines and processing plants of Magnesita SA's properties (the seller) as part of a larger team engaged by one of the prospective buyers. The mines reviewed included magnesite, talc and dolomite open pit mines, crushing and sorting plants, a flotation circuit and a briquetting plant. The due diligence review included operations, geology, environmental issues as well as a valuation of the mining operations. Controlling interest in Magnesita SA was recently purchased by GP Investments of US$638 million. (850891)
Scoping Study to Evaluate Projected Business Plan
Location: Columbia
Commodity: Coal
Behre Dolbear was engaged to evaluate the potential of developing the coal resources held by APDR near its Paz del Rio steel operations in the Andes in central Colombia. The study included evaluating the undeveloped metallurgical coal resources, evaluating the international coal markets, and assessing the potential of selling 5 to 10 million tonnes per year of the coal internationally, evaluating the logistics of transporting large tonnages of coal from the mines to ports on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, developing preliminary plans for underground mining using modern best-industry mining methods, identifying beneficiating methods to produce high quality coking coal, estimating the capital and operational cost to deliver the coal to a port, and developing a financial model to determine the financial viability of the project. (851014)
JORC Compliant Resource Estimate and Scoping Study
Location: Mongolia
Commodity: Coal
Behre Dolbear was engaged to prepare a coal resource estimate consistent with JORC Standards for inclusion in a Canadian National Instrument 43-101 report for filing with the Toronto Stock Exchange. Work included site visits to the properties in Ulaanbataar and Chadgana Tal, Mongolia, as well as incorporation of all existing old and new drilling data into the resource estimate. The assignment also included ongoing exploration advisories and integration of coal-quality data to provide maps of coal thickness and key coal-quality parameters. Behre Dolbear developed a scoping-level study that described a surface coal mining project, including various transportation alternatives and market destinations. The proposed project is unique because of its geographic location and the challenges associated with defining the most suitable markets for long-term coal production. (852419)