Hello, Geronimosgold
I hope you have claims or a mining lease at the site. If you have, you might be able to cut a partnership deal with a junior mining exploration company. They would have the skills, capital, and expertise to do an extensive drilling program to determine the size of the ore body, and that really matters. The bigger the deposit, the more attractive it is to larger mining companies with assets to develop the site. If you have a mining lease for a large area around the site, you can cut a deal with a mining company for private royalties. A junior exploration company will partner with you by giving you its company shares for a mining lease.
Exploration and Feasibility Studies
Geological Surveys: Conducting geological surveys to identify mineral deposits.
Drilling and Sampling: Drilling and analyzing samples to determine the size and quality of the deposit.
Feasibility Studies: Economic, environmental, and technical assessments to determine the viability of the project.
Permits and Licenses: Securing necessary regulatory approvals.
Development and Construction
Infrastructure: Building roads, power supplies, water systems, and other infrastructure.
Mine Construction: Developing the mine site, including stripping overburden (for surface mining) or constructing shafts and tunnels (for underground mining).
Processing Facilities: Building processing plants to extract the minerals from the ore.
Equipment and Machinery: Purchasing and installing heavy machinery and equipment.
Operational costs.
Labor: Hiring and paying salaries for workers and management.
Consumables: Costs of explosives, fuel, lubricants, and other consumables.
Maintenance: Ongoing maintenance and repair of equipment and facilities.
Utilities: Electricity, water, and other utilities required for operations.
Logistics: Transportation of the mined material to processing facilities or markets.
Environmental and Social Costs
Environmental Management: Implementing measures to mitigate environmental impacts, such as waste management and land rehabilitation.
Community Engagement: Costs associated with community relations and compensation.
Taxes and Royalties
Government Taxes: Paying taxes to local, regional, and national governments.
Royalties: Payments to landowners or governments based on a percentage of revenue or profits.
Cost Estimates
Providing specific cost estimates can be challenging without detailed project information, but here are some general figures for different types of mining projects:
Small to Medium-Scale Surface Mining: Costs can range from $500,000 to $10 million.
Large-Scale Surface Mining: Costs can exceed $100 million.
Small to Medium-Scale Underground Mining: Costs can range from $1 million to $20 million.
Large-Scale Underground Mining: Costs can exceed $200 million.
A mine site with 15 different metals (a highly complex polymetallic deposit) is incredibly expensive to develop.
While the sheer diversity offers a hedge against shifting market prices, the upfront costs and technical complexities can be staggering compared to a single-commodity mine. Unless you have capital of about 100 million or more, I cannot see it progressing.
Complex Processing Plants: Extracting 15 different metals usually means you cannot rely on one standard method, such as simple heap leaching. The site generally requires a massive, multi-stage processing facility with varied circuits (like sequential flotation, pressure oxidation, or solvent extraction) to separate and purify each valuable element. Construction costs for these greenfield processing plants typically range from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars.
Intricate Metallurgy: Getting the metals out of the ore without destroying or contaminating the other valuable elements is difficult. Research and testing alone to figure out the exact chemical recipe for the mill can take years and cost tens of millions. That is why you need a junior exploration miner to come on board. Costlier Exploration: Outlining 15 different metals requires extensive core drilling and analysis, which dramatically elevates pre-production expenses.
Another problem you're going to face is Tailings and Waste Management: Separating so many metals often produces a larger volume of distinct waste streams. Handling and safely storing these materials—especially if they contain reactive elements—requires highly engineered, expensive tailings storage facilities.
Despite the high capital expenditure (CAPEX), these mines are often massive and can be highly lucrative over their multi-decade lifespans. By selling 15 different metals, the operation hedges against market volatility. If the price of one metal drops, profits from the other fourteen can keep the mine highly cash-flow positive.
If you have mining leases and permits your in a position to make a deal for percentage mining royalties. Mining royalties vary significantly by jurisdiction, commodity, and whether the fee is based on volume or a percentage of the total value. In major mining hubs like Australia, companies generally pay between 2.5% and 10% of the mineral's value, though peak rates can scale higher.
State Royalties in USA : Each state sets its own royalty rates for state-owned lands. For example, Nevada imposes net proceeds of minerals taxes up to 5%, while Utah assesses metalliferous minerals at 2.6% of gross value. Private Royalties: Extracted via fee lands. Mining companies and private landowners negotiate royalties privately, usually structured as a Net Smelter Return (NSR) or Gross Overriding Royalty (GOR), which typically range from 1% to 5%
Private royalty structures usually fall into one of these common categories:
If you hold private mineral rights, mining companies typically pay you a negotiated royalty of 1% to 10%+ of the gross revenue, or a set dollar amount per tonne, depending on the mineral. The exact rate is established via a private lease agreement between you and the mining operator.
Net Smelter Return (NSR): A percentage of the revenue from the sale of the minerals minus specific processing and transportation costs.
Crow
