Abstract:
The real cost of any mining incident has, empirically, proven to be estimation-driven, rather than factdriven.
One of the main reasons for this lies with the complexity of the cost composition of any given
mining incident. Incident costs comprise both direct and indirect cost factors, and in many cases the
costs associated with these factors are incurred during different time periods following the incident. In
this paper we aim to identify the various cost factors arising from mining incidents, provide a thorough
understanding of all the potential cost factors identified, and draw general conclusions on the knowledge
obtained.
Furthermore, recommendations are made on how mining companies could use the results, in order
to assist them in calculating the costs of mining incidents. The paper also provides suggestions for
further research, with the emphasis on the most significant immeasurable cost factors, namely the costs
of implementing job accommodations following an incident, the harm to company reputation, and the
decreased productivity due to low worker morale/psychological factors following an incident.
If mining companies are aware of and understand which factors could contribute to the cost of any
given incident, future planning and incident cost estimations could be easier. It should, however, be
noted that although this study provides a comprehensive list of cost factors (and detailed explanations),
other unknown cost factors relating to mine incidents could prevail in extreme cases.
