100 PointsPass at 60
Published Before You Pay
The Capstone Rubric
Exactly what a reviewer looks for, and what fails. Read it before you spend anything - the whole point of publishing it is that you can.
Seven Criteria
How a Plan Is Marked
Marked by somebody who works in the trade: a buyer, a geologist, a mining lawyer, an accountant who handles royalties, or somebody who has run an operation.
| Criterion | What Earns the Marks | What Loses Them |
|---|---|---|
| The Opportunity 15 | One opportunity, named and located. A reader who has never met you should be able to say what you hold, where it is and what mineral it is. | A plan about minerals in general, or three opportunities hedged against each other. |
| The Title Position 15 | The licence or permit level identified by name, with who holds it, when it expires and what its conditions require. If you do not yet hold it, the route to it and the time it takes. | "Licence in process" with no level named and no timeframe. |
| The Cost Base 20 | Capex and operating cost built up line by line to a cost per tonne, with the figures sourced - a quotation, an invoice, a stated rate - rather than estimated in round numbers. | A single cost-per-tonne figure with nothing behind it, or round numbers throughout. |
| The Revenue Case 20 | Grade, recovery, payable percentage and the deductions applied to a real reference price, arriving at what actually reaches your account. Break-even stated three ways: volume, grade and price. | In-situ value presented as revenue. This is the single most common reason a plan fails. |
| The Route to Market 10 | A named class of buyer and the licence they hold, the form the product is sold in, the place the price is struck, and the logistics and documents between you and them. | "We have a buyer" with no licence class, no place and no form. |
| Compliance and Obligations 10 | Royalty at the statutory rate and base, the tax position, the rehabilitation provision, and a twelve-month calendar of what is due when. | Royalty omitted, or treated as a tax rather than as a cost of production. |
| The Gaps, Named 10 | What you do not know, what it would cost to find out, and what you have assumed in the meantime. A plan with its gaps named is fundable. A plan with its gaps hidden is not. | No risk section, or a risk section that lists only risks outside your control. |
What a Pass Means
Sixty of a hundred, with no single criterion at zero. A plan that scores well everywhere except the revenue case does not pass, because a plan with the revenue wrong is not a plan.
On a pass you are a Certified NDARAMA Mining Business Professional and your certificate carries a number anybody can verify on this site.
If It Does Not Pass
You get the marked rubric back with the reasons written on it, and one resubmission is included in the US$78. Most plans that fail fail on the cost base or the revenue case, and both are fixable in a week.
If You Dispute the Mark
It is read by a second reviewer who has not seen the first mark. That is the whole appeal, and it is free.
