# Assessing of Losses and Dilution Impact on the Cost Chain: Case Study of Gold Ore Deposits
## 2 Materials and Methods  
The problem, stated in the paper, is associated with estimation of how losses and dilution parameters impact the costs of gold extraction and processing in case of open pit mining in the ore field, containing a group of deposits. Changes in the structure of losses and dilution determine the ratio between the amounts of production and overburden removal, as well as average grade of the ore, which affect the entire technological chain starting from ore extraction and finishing with its processing, including all the processes in-between, such as transportation and stacking.  
Research design:  
1. The 'Introduction' section reviews theoretical foundations of such terms as quality control, losses, dilution, average and cut-off grades of mineral raw materials. The main references are presented, which reflect the aim and objectives of the mine-to-mill concept.
2. The 'Results' section demonstrates the research method, which includes stages that estimate how losses and dilution indicators influence the costs of gold extraction and processing in open-pit mining. Study materials include commercial reserves and gold grade in the group of gold deposits at Kuranakh ore field. The assessment method is a compilation of several guidelines: estimation of the average metal content in the extracted ore; the estimation of Owing and Operating [82]; evaluating the efficiency of mining and processing by reducing costs. Section contains the following calculations of mine-to-mill chain:  
* Estimation and analysis of average grade of the valuable component in the ore, considering changes in the indicators of losses and dilution;* 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;
* Justification of techno-economic indicators of gold processing plant (GPP) performance.
* The 'Discussion' section describes the main possibilities and limitations of the suggested approach to losses and dilution estimation, demonstrates case studies of gold mining companies, applying mine-to-mill approaches. Case study: Kuranakh ore field contains 11 deposits: Delbe, Kanavnoye, Yakutskoye, Dorozhnoye, Tsentralnoye, Porfirovoye, Bokovoye, Severnoye, Yuzhnoye, Yuzhnoye, and Novoye [8]. To estimate average metal content in the extracted ore, the following values of commercial and non-commercial reserves were taken for the Kuranakh ore field (Table 3).  
Indicators of losses and dilution are examined under two scenarios:  
* base-case scenario: losses are 3.1% with the ore grade of 0.9 g/t; dilution is 17% with the grade of 0.2 g/t;
* project scenario: losses are 2.1% with the ore grade of 0.9 g/t; dilution is 13% with the grade of 0.2 g/t. The base-case scenario implies actual conditions of gold mining company operation, taking into account existing regulations on the estimation of losses and dilution. The project scenario provides variations in the indicators of losses and dilution and implies that their values should be as close as possible to the regulatory limits. Project scenario is distinguished from the base-case one by a 1% loss reduction. Estimation of dilution, associated with loss reduction, is based on the methodology [62; 83; 84], which takes into account variable conditions of ore losses in the near-contact zone and pinch-outs, ore losses in waste disposal dumps in the process of overburden removal, etc. Estimation of the average grade of the valuable component involves calculation of specific amounts of metal under base-case and project scenarios in the group of deposits at Kuranakh ore field basing on their structure in the total reserves. The analysis is based on comparison between the grade and yield of metal by varying the indicators of losses and dilution under different scenarios.