Metal price drops accounted for 143 of 268 cases and C$25.2 billion in impairment charges, according to the study published last month in Resources Policy, an international journal on mineral rules and economics with editors in the United States, Australia and China. The research appears appropriate at a time when nickel and lithium prices have crashed from 2022 highs as gold has set new records.
“While impairments have been shown to be a common occurrence across mining companies, they also are a major contributor to the industry’s low average returns,” said the authors led by Andrew Gillis of Edmonton-based Aurora Hydrogen.
“The degree of impairments is higher at mines in developing countries and at mines where the geographic location and mining processes are new to the company operating the mine,” said the authors, which included John Steen and W. Scott Dunbar of the Department of Mining Engineering at the University of…
