Happy New Year! There’s a lot to be happy about as we kick off 2020. In November of 2019, CRIRSCO released its update to the International Reporting Template for the public reporting of Exploration Targets, Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (here). This new template represents a significant update to the 2013 CRIRSCO template. The new template includes new visual styling to help distinguish between code, guidance, and definitions. Table 1, the checklist of assessment and reporting criteria, is updated to emphasize specific requirements for each stage of reporting; Exploration Results, Mineral Resource, and Mineral Reserves. A new table, Table 2 – Guideline for technical studies, is added to help clarify requirements for Scoping studies, Pre-feasibility studies, and Feasibility studies. Lastly, several new appendices are added, which address specific minerals such as coal, diamonds, industrial minerals, and so forth.
Recall that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released Regulation S-K subpart 1300 in October, 2018, and this became law in February, 2019, with full compliance mandated on January 1, 2021. In September of 2019, SEC staff members spoke at the CRIRSCO annual meeting, held at NMA‘s headquarters in Washington, D.C. A recording of this may be found on SME’s website, here. For public mining registrants, this is the year to focus on property disclosures under the new regulation. There will be a short-course at this year’s Annual SME Conference, in Phoenix, that focuses on similarities and differences between S-K 1300 and NI 43-101. Also, Dr. Kwame Awuah-Offei, academic fellow to the SEC and professor of mining engineering at the Missouri University of Science & Technology (MS&T), is offering another short course. Kwame is also part of the Henry Krumb Lecture series, and will be speaking to SME Local Sections throughout the year.
The SME Resources and Reserves Committee will be working on updating the SME Guide in 2020 to include many of the new features in the CRISCO Template as well as some guidance related to Regulation S-K 1300. The effort to update the SME Guide kicks off this month.
If that were not enough, the International Minerals Valuation Committee (IMVAL) is embarking on an update to its template in 2020. IMVAL is comprised of members from Australasia, Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
If you’re in search of a Qualified Person or a Certified Minerals Appraiser for your project, we can help. Contact us today!