Metals and energy finance : interrelationship between technical and financial risk in mineral projects

"Dennis Buchanan's text clearly shows how an understanding of the complementary disciplines of geoscience, conventional engineering and advanced financial engineering is essential to making the right decisions concerning how to appraise a resource or project and how to structure the funding of natural resources assets in order to mitigate technical and financial risk and to maximise value for owners. Crucially, the book also looks at how other sources of capital, such as limited recourse lenders, appraise metals and energy assets. Such an understanding is essential to optimising the capital structure and valuation of natural resources assets ... The advanced methodologies revealed in Dennis Buchanan's book will have great value to those working in the technical and financial functions, or to those spanning both functions, of the natural resources industry." Mineral Economics "The book is well-written and I for one found it a pleasant and informative read. As someone who mainly works in the area of real options it was very illuminating to see the amount of work and technical detail that goes into a proper valuation of minerals and energy projects. The book is accessible to students who do not have much background in finance ... I found the case studies a delight. The author's (laudable) views about the importance of correct financial valuation in the minerals and energy field really shine through here. This is where everything comes together and, because of the lengthy exposition of the technical side of mining, the figures really come to life ... I expect my students will very much appreciate the both-feet-firmly-on-the-ground attitude of the book and its strong focus on applicability to real-world problems." Quantitative Finance While the intrinsic value of a mineral project is still a key consideration, understanding the interrelationship between technical and financial risk to truly comprehend the long-term value of an asset helps companies make better investment (or divestment) decisions. Companies that can secure debt finance for both the development and acquisition of advanced projects have greater strategic flexibility. Understanding how debt impacts the valuation of projects allows for an objective approach to determining levels of gearing; this is relevant to both the investment banking and mining communities and is the core narrative in this book. This revised edition retains sections on both conventional and financial engineering treated in a quantitative manner with fresh case studies. New sections address softer issues around environmental impact and social licence from a qualitative perspective, albeit acknowledging that without these approvals a mining licence will not be issued. The book also develops a completely fresh thread around the energy transition, recognising the drivers behind the decarbonisation of natural resource industries and the role played by oil and gas companies in developing renewable energy."