Reporting Standards Tightened

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday August 3, 1988

By ROFF SMITH, Resources Writer

From next year Australian mining companies will have to comply with the toughest reserve-reporting standards in the world.

A committee of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the Australian Mining Industry Council has published a code of strict reserve-reporting standards, which is expected to be included in the listing rules by the Australian Stock Exchange - effectively giving it the force of law.

Committee chairman Mr Ken Glasson revealed that the new code would require companies to distinguish between mineral resources and ore reserves.

No longer will it be acceptable for companies to report "possible" ore reserves. Nor can the term "reserve" be applied loosely to any fairly well defined orebody.

To qualify as a "reserve" under the new standards, an orebody must, in the opinion of experts, be defined on three sides, be economically viable and not conditional on environmental or government policy considerations.

Identified mineral "resources" would be sub-divided into three categories -inferred, indicated and measured - reflecting the quantity and quality of the geological data available.

Mining companies also will be obliged to publish all of their exploration results, not just their favorite juicy intersections.

© 1988 Sydney Morning Herald

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