Feasibility of copper mines in Jordan

The main purpose of this paper is to study the feasibility of copper mining in Jordan particularly those that are located in Dana natural reserve two areas (Feinan and Khirbet Nahas). The results showed that the operating mine in Feinan area is a good investment with a net present value (NPV) of $US 324.16 million, an IRR of around 41.11%, a discounted payback period, of 2.9 years and a capital efficiency index of 2.27. On the other hand, for Khirbet Nahas project, an operating mine will be a good investment too with an NPV of $US 932.97 million, an IRR of 72.48%, a discounted payback period of 1.6 years, and a capital efficiency index of 4.79. Sensitivity analysis and Monte Carlo simulation for both projects were performed. The results showed that there is a positive relationship between NPV and total operating costs, total capital costs, and royalty rate, whereas a negative relationship exists between NPV and grade rate, price, and recovery rate. A total of 1000 iterations were also employed in the Monte Carlo simulation for both projects (Feinan and Khirbet Nahas) and once these iterations were utilized to determine the NPV for each iteration, it was concluded that there is 12.5% chance of negative NPV in Feinan project and 2.3% chance of negative NPV in Khirbet Nahas project.