Optimal Exploration for and Exploitation of Heterogeneous Mineral Deposits

Authors: Cairns R.D.¹; Van Quyen N.²

Source: Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Volume 35, Number 2, March 1998 , pp. 164-189(26)

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Abstract:

We model exploration for and production from a multiple-deposit, nonrenewable resource. Exploration is viewed as a Bayesian process involving learning about undiscovered reserves, and is undertaken both to improve the quality of and to replenish known reserves. Known reserves are not physically defined, but depend on the realizations of discrete episodes of exploration elsewhere and on decisions at each instant about the margin between ore to be mined and low-grade material to be rejected. The appropriate measure of resource scarcity, the sustainable level of the contribution of the resource, and the treatment of depletion in the national accounts are considered. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Economics, McGill University, 855 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, H3A 2T7, Canada 2: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, K1N 6N5, Canada

Publication date: 1998-03-01