1. A machine costing $42,000 will have a life of 5 years and a salvage value of
$3,000. It is estimated that 10,000 units will be produced on this machine,
distributed in this manner; $2000 in the first year, $2,400 in the second year,
$2100 in the third year, $1800 in the fourth and $1700 in the firth year. If
depreciation is allocated in the basis of production, calculate the depreciation
charges of the three years.
[6]
b. An asset costing $29,000 has a life expectancy of 5 years and an estimated
salvage value of $3,500. Calculate the depreciation charges of the first two
years applying first the declining balance method and the secondly the
straight line method.
[8]
2. The environmental rehabilitation costs required in 5 years' time for a small
mining operation amount to R10 million. The mine needs to provide for this cost
through an environmental rehabilitation sinking fund by putting away an equal
amount every year into a safe sinking fund with a nominal interest rate of 8%.
Determine the annual amount that must be invested every year and
demonstrate by tabulating the sinking fund schedule that it indeed grows to the
required R 10 million.
[1 0]
3. The orebody carries technical risk in terms of five main mining variables. Name
them and explain how you will handle them in a cashflow.
[10]
4. a. Discuss ten mining risks and possible mitigating actions normally used.
[10]
b. Three investment alternatives shown in Table 1, have the following returns
and probability of their returns. Using the coefficient of variation, rank the three
alternatives
from
lowest
risk
to
highest
risk.
[10]
Table 1 Cashflows 0 f three d"1fferen t oroIects
Project A
Project B
Proiect C
Cashflow Probability Cashflow Probability Cashflow Probability
of Cash flow
ofCashflow
ofCashflow
30
0.1
20
0.1
5
0.1
35
0.2
30
0.25
10
0.2
40
0.4
40
0.3
15
0.4
45
0.2
50
0.35
20
0.2
50
0.1
60
0.1
25
0.1
5. Name the three different mining costs and briefly discuss three ways in which
they are estimated in feasibility studies.
[6]