# Assessing of Losses and Dilution Impact on the Cost Chain: Case Study of Gold Ore Deposits
## 3 Results  
The estimation methodology is a compilation of factor analysis and cost engineering methods that take into account the change in costs due to the variation of losses and dilution, Figure 2. It consists of several stages: \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Deposit**} & \multirow{2}{*}{
\begin{tabular}{c} **Share in the Structure of Commercial** \\ **Reserves of Kuranakh Field, \%** \\ \end{tabular} } & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Characteristics of Commercial Reserves**} \\ \cline{3-5}  & & **Ore, Thousand Tons** & **Au Grade, g/t** & **Au, kg** \\ \hline Delbe & 25.60 & 38,149.63 & 1.35 & 51,502.00 \\ Kanavnoye & 18.20 & 27,122.00 & 1.21 & 32,817.62 \\ Yakutskoye & 14.70 & 21,906.23 & 1.24 & 27,163.73 \\ Dorozhnoye & 11.00 & 16,392.42 & 1.19 & 19,506.98 \\ Tsentralnoye & 10.10 & 15,051.22 & 1.51 & 22,727.35 \\ Porfirovoye & 5.80 & 8643.28 & 2.44 & 21,089.59 \\ Bokovoye & 5.00 & 7451.10 & 1.62 & 12,070.78 \\ Severnoye & 4.50 & 6705.99 & 1.23 & 8248.37 \\ Pervukhinskoye & 3.20 & 4768.70 & 1.19 & 5674.76 \\ Yuzhnoye & 1.80 & 2682.40 & 1.28 & 3433.47 \\ Novoye & 0.10 & 149.02 & 1.42 & 211.61 \\ TOTAL & 100.00 & 149,022.00 & 1.37 & 204,446.26 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Values and structure of commercial reserves of the deposits at Kuranakh ore field. Source: [8; 9; 10]. Estimation and analysis of the average grade of the valuable component in the ore, considering changes in the indicators of losses and dilution. 2. Justification of the economic effect from reduction of operating costs on ore transportation from the quarry to the processing plant due to changes in the amount of ore stacking;
3. Justification of techno-economic indicators of GPP performance. Assessment of the Effects of Increasing Average Grade. Estimation and Analysis of the Average Grade of the Valuable Component in the Ore, Considering Changes in the Parameters of Losses and Dilution  
Average metal content in the extracted ore is calculated using formula [62; 83; 84]:  
\[\text{C}_{av}=\frac{(B\cdot\text{C}_{B}-L\cdot\text{C}_{L}+R\cdot\text{C}_{R})} {(B-L+R)} \tag{1}\]  
where  
\(B\) is commercial ore reserves, thousand \(t\);  
\(L\) is mining ore losses, thousand \(t\);  
\(R\) is mining ore dilution, thousand \(t\);  
\(C_{B}\), \(C_{L}\), \(C_{R}\)--are values of gold content in the commercial reserves, mining ore losses and diluting rocks. According to estimations of average grade of the valuable component and metal yield for each deposit, calculated for varying indicators of losses and dilution, values of metal yield under base-case and project scenarios were 204,852.2 kg and 205,218.20 kg, respectively (Tables A1 and A2). Analysis of the average grade, amounts of ore and metal under base-case and project scenarios demonstrate that reduction of mining losses led to a decrease in dilution, rising average gold grade in the ore and metal yield at each deposit. 1% variation of loss indicator (with the grade of 0.9 g/t) led to a 4% decrease in dilution volumes (with the grade of 0.2 g/t) and an overall increase in metal yield of 366 kg across all the deposits (Table A3). A change in the quality of extracted ore, caused by an increase of metal grade in the ore due to precise definition of orebody outlines, led to changes in the workspace and types of work along the production chain, including transportation, handling operations, stacking and GPP processing. Figure 2: Stages of mine-to-mill process and assessing of losses and dilution impact on the cost chain. Source: compiled by the authors. Justification of the Economic Effect from Reduction of Operating Costs on Ore Transportation from the Quarry to the Processing Plant Due to Changes in the Amount of Ore Stacking  
Methodological recommendations for justification of the economic effect from reduction of operating costs on ore transportation have to take into account process procedures at GPP, working with the ore, blended (averaged) with respect to its lithological composition.