Greenfields Exploration – refers to exploration projects carried out in areas where only minimal (or no) work has been carried out before (or the previous work was focused on a different commodity type or deposit style. type in areas of limited exploration.
Given that there are no existing mining operations in the immediate area, the discovery will need to be developed as a stand-alone new operation.
Brownfields Exploration – is all exploration (regardless of stage) at or immediately around an existing mine site owned by the company. It includes the search for satellite ore bodies within an economic transport distance of the operating mine. It excludes expenditures on production geology (for mine scheduling purposes) or confirmation drilling on the producing ore body (which is focused on upgrading Resources into Reserves).
Pre-Feasibility/Scoping – A JORC Resource (or equivalent) has been reported and work is underway to assess the technical and commercial merits of the project.
Feasibility Study – Detailed work is being carried out to fully assess the technical and economic viability of the project. Concurrently work is being carried out on the social and environmental aspects of the project, with a view of building a mine.
Construction – A decision has been made to build the mine. Typically, it takes 1-2 years to build it.
Operating – The mine is in production.
Care & Maintenance – The mine is temporarily shut down. This is most often due to high costs and/or low commodity prices. The expectation is that the mine will eventually reopen when market conditions improve.