Warning: The applet displayed below is not appropriate for use in evaluating mining operations. It is only a rough sketch of economic relationships. It does not contain most functions and details necessary to evaluate real-life mining properties. Using the applet on this page in any way except as a simple concept illustration will give incorrect results.
Perspective: Finding "ore" (as modeled in this JavaScript applet) is only the first step in the process leading to a functioning mine. Ore bodies, particularly new ore bodies, often require a high potential profit margin to justify development. Investment risk factors, such as political, financial, and sampling uncertainty, financing availability, or environmental permitting uncertainty, are often high. Higher profit potential is often necessary to justify the risk of unexpected losses. In addition, the high cost of locating the next ore body (corporate survival) often dictates a need for higher operating margins of profit than typical for standard industrial investments. (Analysis of typical mining company exploration budgets indicate that only one in one thousand exploration assays lead to a viable ore deposit.)

In short, "gold mines" aren't automatic tickets to wealth. "Loosing everything" is a real possibility in individual mine projects. Development risks means that new mines are only reasonable investments when profit potential is high or risk  is managed across a diversified resource base. (This is one reason mines are often owned by large multinationals; risk is diversified across borders.) Modern mining is not  a safe business for "wildcat" corporations or careless investors.
 


 
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