Once the evaluation of a gold project is complete, the engineering company has to prepare a report which will be read by the management team and consultants, and their first qualities should be simplicity of terms and definiteness of conclusions. Reports are usually too long, rather than too short. The essential facts governing the value of a gold project can be expressed on one sheet of paper. It is always desirable, however, that the groundwork data and the manner of their determination should be set out with such detail that any other engineer could come to the same conclusion if he accepted the facts as accurately determined.
In regard to the detailed form of reports, many managers prefer a single page summarizing the main factors, and an assay plan, reduced to a longitudinal section where possible. Then there should be added, for purposes of record and for submission to other engineers, a set of appendices going into some details as to the history of the mine, its geology, development, equipment, metallurgy, and management. A list of samples should be given with their location, and the tonnages and values of each separate block. A presentation should be made of the probabilities of extension in depth, together with recommendations for working the mine.
A key aspect of the final report is the economical evaluation of the projects and how was determined it. For example, the bed rock value which attaches to a mine is the profit to be won from proved gold ore and in which the price of gold is calculated at some figure between basic and normal. This we may call the G value. Beyond this there is the speculative value of the mine. If the value of the probable ore be represented by PO, the value of extension of the ore by EO, and a higher price for gold than the price above assumed represented by PG, then if the gold mine be efficiently managed the value of the mine is the sum of the terms mentioned. What actual amounts should be attached to PO, EO, and PG is a matter of judgment. There is no prescription for good judgment. Good judgment rests upon a proper balancing of evidence. The amount of risk is purely a question of how much these factors are required to represent in money, in effect, how much more gold ore must be found, or how many feet the ore must extend in depth; or in convertible terms, what life in years the mine must have, or how high the price of gold must be. In forming an opinion whether these requirements will be realized, all the factors must be balanced in a scale whose measuring standards are the five geological weights and the general industrial outlook. The wise engineer will put before his clients the scale, the weights, and the conclusion arrived at. The astute investor will need to know these of his adviser.