Cut Off Grade (COG) Analysis

Cut-off grade is where geology, economics and mine planning meet — and it is the essential foundation for resource development and exploitation decisions. A cut-off that ignores real costs quietly gives away value every year.

Our team calculates or peer-reviews your cut-off grade, with special attention to a factor many operations miss: sustaining capital. The pit or stope needs to justify its capital, because that capital could be used elsewhere in the portfolio. Equipment sustaining capital, pad and tailings expansions and similar costs belong in the cut-off calculation, since every tonne mined consumes equipment life.

• Break-even and optimized cut-off grade analysis (COG curves).
• Sustaining capital correctly included from the design stage.
• Sensitivity analysis: how sensitive your pits are to sustaining capital in long range planning.
• Cut-off policy over the Life of Mine, with price, cost and recovery scenarios.

What you get: a cut-off policy with the economics behind it made explicit — not a single number inherited from the feasibility study.