criteria will be:
1. The logic of the basic project plan, both in terms of scheduling and finance;
2. The justification of your conclusions by reasoning and calculations;
3.澳洲论文网 The overall quality of presentation with the help of tables and graphs where appropriate.
4. 要用到的软件：MICROSOFT PROJECT 2003

Bridge of Allan Copper Mine

Introduction

Copper and silver were mined at various locations in the Ochil Hills until 1807. Evidence of the mining activity can be seen in the woods at the back of Bridge of Allan, including the prominent, blocked entrance in Mine Wood. The mines have been long abandoned as uneconomic but recent increases in commodity prices have caused various mining prospects to be reassessed. The Airthrey Mining Company (AMC) was formed two years ago and has already undertaken much prospecting and proven that there are small but rich reserves of copper well worth extracting. Considerable public relations work has persuaded the local communities of the value of the project to Scotland’s strategic economic development and outline planning permission has been agreed. AMC believe that there should be sufficient reserves for a long term operation and many experts believe that the high copper prices should continue for many years. However, AMC want to establish the first phase of the mine quickly so that the mine can take full advantage of current market conditions.
AMC have already undertaken many studies of the proposed mine and extracts from the reports are provided:
geology
company strategy
mine development
mine operations
purchasing
surface services
personnel
Task
You have been asked as a project management consultant to help AMC assess whether the Bridge of Allan copper mine is financially viable and recommend a project plan. You should produce a report for
http://www.ukthesis.org/dissertation_sample/Australia_Dissertation_Sample/the AMC Board of Directors in time for its next meeting. The report should provide:
• a plan illustrating the logic of the project and identifying project activities, their durations and key milestone dates;
• an assessment of the project’s financial viability, assuming the best estimates for the price of copper;
• an exploration of the effects of changing copper price: how dependent is the project’s viability on these assumptions?
• justify your analysis with supporting evidence where appropriate;
• A rival mining company from Northern England has made an offer to acquire the mining rights from AMC for a total sum of £2.95million. This offer is due to expire by the end of August 2010. Advise the AMC Board whether it is worth taking up this offer.

Sensible approximations should be adopted where appropriate. The report should be written using the standard guidelines. Include a section summarizing possible further studies that you would recommend to provide a more complete assessment.#p#分页标题#e#

Geology

While the general geology has been proven and there is every confidence that the copper reserves are as claimed, the precise geology is not known. A more detailed geological knowledge is needed to provide information about the nature of the ground being tunnelled through and the exact location of the copper veins. More boreholes need to be sunk to provide cores of the geological strata from key locations, see Figure 1. Ten boreholes are required: four associated with the drift, two with the shaft and one with each vein. The mine cross section and plan indicate the approximate locations of the shaft, drift, roads and boreholes. There is no need to complete all the boreholes before mining begins, but each borehole must be finished before the immediately previous stage of the associated mining development can start. For example bore 1 must be finished before the main drift is started but the drift may then progress to the bottom of bore 1, even though bore 2 etc. may not be completed. However, tunnelling the drift can not continue to the intersection with roads 3 and 4 until bore 2 has been sunk. Similarly the sinking the shaft can not begin until bores 5 and 6 have been completed.

The boreholes will be drilled using a lightweight drilling rig which is attached to a tractor. This rig can thus cross rough country and does not need any specially built roads. The rig is fairly primitive but it is relatively cheap. A specialist firm hires out the rig at a fixed cost of £100 000 plus £1000 per day for the equipment and support team. Extensive experience indicates that a drilling rate of 4m per day should be achieved. It is hoped that only one rig will be used though more might be made available if really necessary. It has been estimated that the economic life of each of the four veins to be worked in the proposed development are:

Company Strategy

The proposed development should establish the expensive key infrastructure: surface transport facilities, shaft and underground drift. This development will also involve the driving of four underground roadways to access four veins of copper ore for extraction. It is argued that even if the first phase of the development (working veins 1-4) is not quite viable (using the company’s standard 20% p.a. discount rate) future phases with extended roadways to access new veins should be very profitable. However, there is no detailed assessment of the geology of any additional veins at present.

Mine Development

The main drift will provide access from Bridge of Allan, at an entrance opposite the tennis courts, sloping down to intersect a shaft sunk from Cuparlaw Wood, see Figure 2. The underground access roads (1-4) will link the drift, shaft and the four copper veins. A mixture of conveyor belts and underground trains will be used in the drift and roadways to transport men, materials and the copper ore. The roads can be driven as soon as access is possible, either via the shaft or drift.
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Data describing development work at other mines have been collected for the sinking of the shafts and driving main drifts and the smaller access roads, such as roads 1-4. The costs include all labor, machines and essential materials, such as concrete lining for the shaft, but exclude fittings, see separate section below.
 

There is the possibility of using a new shaft sinking machine which has had considerable success in other mining developments. The new machine has proven a reliable rate of 1.5 metres per day but the costs, including all the skilled support required and essential materials, are £70000 per day. While this might be an option, the great expense raises a question on its economic justification.

Mine Operation and revenue

No removal of ore is allowed until both the shaft and the drift have been completed, providing the ventilation needed for the larger workforce employed in extraction. Estimates have been made of the operating costs of the mine and the daily revenue from the veins once ore extraction begins:

Various shift patterns have been considered but the mine will work a 5 day week for 50 weeks per year, with the weekends being reserved for maintenance and safety checks. The revenue has been estimated based on a conservative copper price of $5500 per tonne: the price of ore can be assumed to be proportionate to the price of copper. It is expected that the copper price will remain relatively high for the next few years, though price fluctuations are often unpredictable (see Figure 3).

 

Purchasing

A number of specialized items of equipment have to be procured with long lead times:
Surface Conveyor
In addition to the preparation and installation costs included in “Ore Transport and Storage”, the purchase cost of the components will be £700000. 3 months should be allowed for delivery.
Shaft and Roadway Fittings
Numerous fittings will be required, such as the cage for the shaft, ventilation piping, pumps, communications, lighting, conveyor structure and belts. The total cost will be about £5.5 million and 3 months should be allowed for delivery. No work can begin on the shaft or drift until the fittings are available.
Underground Railway
Track, signalling, locomotives and wagons will be required at a cost of £1.9 million and with a delivery time of 4 months.

Surface Services

While most of the activity and expense is involved with the underground development, there are a number of vital surface facilities necessary for the mine's operation:#p#分页标题#e#
Access Roads
The road to the drift entrance will have to be upgraded (cost= £100,000 and time= 4 weeks) before any work on the drift can begin. Similarly the road to Cuparlaw Wood will be upgraded (cost= £300000 and time = 7 weeks).
Cuparlaw Buildings
The main surface buildings will be located at Cuparlaw Wood, minimising the impact of AMC's development on Bridge of Allan. A workshop (£500,000 and 12 weeks), office (£400,000 and 10 weeks), changing rooms (£300,000 and 10 weeks) and canteen (£150,000 and 8 weeks) will be built.
Ore Transport and Storage
The copper ore will emerge from the drift and then be taken by conveyor (£200,000 and 8 weeks for its installation) along the back of Bridge of Allan and then directly across Blairforkie Drive to bunkers (£600,000 and 4 weeks for their construction) on the site presently occupied by the garden centre next to the station. A railway siding (£500,000 and 6 weeks) will be built where railway wagons will be http://www.ukthesis.org/dissertation_sample/Australia_Dissertation_Sample/loaded for transport to market. Before any work on the railway facilities, a detailed agreement has to be made with ScotRail. 4 months should be allowed for discussions for this agreement.

Personnel

While the specialist manpower required for the development of the mine will be supplied on a contract basis, a permanent workforce will be needed for the routine operation of the mine: the extraction and transport of the ore. Recruitment should begin 6 months before the start of any ore extraction.

Planning permission and start date

澳洲论文网Outline planning permission has already been agreed. Once the board of AMC confirm the project, work could start as soon as 1 June 2010.

Project management and mine supervision

It is estimated the cost of project management during the development of the mine and the cost of supervision once the mine is operational will be about £3000 per working day.