BIOGRAPHY
Professor Buchanan works jointly between the Department of Earth Science and Engineering and the Business School at Imperial College London. His current research interest lies in addressing the underlying technical principles applying to mineral projects and demonstrating how these influence financial modelling.
He has almost 40 years’ experience teaching mining geology, mineral exploration and mineral project appraisal and is responsible for the MSc in Metals and Energy Finance. This is a joint degree between the Department of Earth Science and Engineering and the Business School at Imperial College.
Professor Buchanan has worked as a Mining Geologist in both gold and platinum mines in South Africa and had wide experience as a consultant to the industry, as an expert witness and in designing and delivering short courses for the industry.
Podcast
Dennis discusses the importance of building interdisciplinary skills to better understand the business of mining, and his courses on mining and finance at Edumine.com. He also describes what it’s like to give lectures at Imperial College during the coronavirus pandemic.
Courses
An Introduction to Modelling Coal Project Finance serves as an introduction to the critical issues associated with the debt financing of coal mining projects. The aims and objectives of project financing are discussed with an overview of the steps leading up to application. The course is aimed at professionals throughout the mining industry and assumes a basic appreciation of the main financial parameters.
Logical guidelines on how to construct a preliminary level cash flow model of project finance are provided, with descriptions of the major input variables. Coal is used to demonstrate the principles of modelling project finance.
10 hours | 90 day access
An Introduction to Modelling Metal Project Finance serves as an introduction to the critical issues associated with the debt financing of mining projects. The aims and objectives of project financing are discussed with an overview of the steps leading up to application. The course is aimed at professionals throughout the mining industry and assumes a basic appreciation of the main financial parameters.
Logical guidelines on how to construct a preliminary level cash flow model of project finance are provided, with descriptions of the major input variables. Nickel and platinum are used as example commodities with which to demonstrate the principles of modelling project finance.
A background discussion on the technical aspects and major costs involved in developing a large-scale open pit nickel mining project is followed by a step by step guide to the development of a financial model of the project using the financial modelling software tool IC-MinEval. Similarly, background discussion on platinum mining is followed by a step by step guide to developing a financial model of an underground platinum mining project using IC-MinEval.
10 hours | 90 day access
More
When one of Dennis Buchanan’s PhD candidates at Imperial College in London was recently under exam stress and hit a writing roadblock, he was able to unblock her by pointing out that there has no been no better time to be doing a dissertation in metals and energy finance than now. As the industry races to reach decarbonisation deadlines, mined copper will be much needed, as well as lithium, cobalt, and other minerals critical to the green energy transition.
Some analysts of the mining industry have argued that the world has entered into a new commodity supercycle; with base metals prices rallying to record highs, miners in hot pursuit of coveted battery metals to fuel the shift into the electric vehicle era, and investors piling into safe haven precious metal gold during the economic turbulence of the pandemic, triggering a new kind of ‘gold rush.’
