At the Industry Benchmarking Conference in March 2005 IPA introduced its latest evaluation tool, the Mine Front-End Loading Index (MFEL). This tool that can be used to assess the level of project development for mining projects. By Front-End Loading (FEL) we mean the process a company uses to translate its business opportunities into capital projects. The status of FEL at the time of full funds authorization is a quantitative and qualitative measure of the degree of project readiness and project risks. Over the last 18 years IPA has developed a variety of tools to measure FEL for manufacturing and process facilities, for pipelines, information technology projects and other types of projects.

The MFEL considers the level of definition of the project’s orebody and overburden work, site understanding, engineering development and execution planning. An MFEL analysis evaluates these factors and results in a summary project rating of Best Practical, Good, Fair, Poor or Screening index rating. The MFEL rating provides companies with a measure of project risk and identifies any gaps in the use of best practices. Closing the gaps is key to mitigating project risk.

The MFEL can be used by itself or in conjunction with the IPA Facility Front-End Loading Index. When used with the Facility FEL Index the two measures provide a whole asset, mine and mineral processing, assessment. To learn more about this tool please contact us.