Investment policy tools and methods of gold mining companies

The study examines existing methods and tools for assessing Russia's mineral resource base, the criteria of which largely determine the investment strategies of gold-mining companies. The analysis shows that current approaches primarily emphasize the evaluation of geological and financial characteristics of investment projects, while overlooking non-monetary factors such as the availability of qualified personnel in the development region, the level of readiness for business process digitalization, the utilization of technogenic deposits, and the management of byproducts. Moreover, the existing assessment frameworks are predominantly tailored to companies at advanced stages of operation and do not provide adequate tools for evaluating junior exploration companies. This imbalance leads to a disproportionate allocation of capital, with reduced investment in replenishing the mineral resource base and a stronger focus on funding extraction projects. To address this gap, the study develops a scoring-based methodology and tool for evaluating investment projects, incorporating non-monetary criteria to enable a more comprehensive understanding of investment needs. The study conducted a comparison of the criteria used in different assessment methods. Various methods and assessment tools were tested on company data, which made it possible to identify criteria that are currently not included in existing evaluation systems. Based on these findings, a comparative analysis of reserves across major gold-producing countries was carried out for verification purposes. The study also presents the principles for developing a new method and tool for evaluating companies' investment policies and describes the pilot testing of this method on goldmining projects at different stages of development. The analysis provided conclusions regarding the attractiveness of each project. Following the pilot application of the methodology, several recommendations were proposed, including increasing investments in social infrastructure, technological upgrades, digital transformation, changes in subsoil licensing mechanisms, and improvements in the allocation of funds for the development of the mineral resource base. The key findings of the study emphasize the need to modify the list of criteria used for assessing the mineral resource base, to develop a new method and tool for evaluating the investment policies of goldmining companies, to identify methodological gaps in existing assessment systems, and to improve the classification of the mineral resource base. The combined application of the proposed scoring approach and conventional assessment instruments has made it possible to identify licensed areas where development is not taking place, to recommend improvements to the licensing mechanism, and to call for a revision of the existing resource and reserve classification system. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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