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Processing, smelting and recycling

Smelter and refinery financial model, built free.

A three-statement Excel model for a custom smelter and metal refiner, built from your own figures and checked to balance.

  • Free account
  • No card
  • Usually ready within the hour

We use generative AI in parts of our process, so mistakes can occur. Every model should be checked by a person before it is relied on. Read more

The business

Buys copper, zinc, lead or nickel concentrate (or refines gold and silver doré) from miners, earning treatment and refining charges, free metal from recoveries above payables, and by-products such as sulphuric acid, or tolls metal for a fee without owning it.

See the sampleHow the model works

In short

  • 01

    Three linked statements

    Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow, linked in every period.

  • 02

    Valued two ways

    Discounted cash flow and trading multiples, side by side.

  • 03

    Monthly to annual

    Monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual periods, for up to 30 years.

  • 04

    Checked every period

    A Checks sheet shows the balance sheet balances and the cash reconciles.

The sample

The sample, as Excel draws it.

Built by the same system and checks as yours: its structure and its inputs, ready for your own figures.

Annual · 10 years · Low detail
Smelter and refinery sample model.xlsx
The How It Works sheet of the sample smelter and refinery model

The sample describes no real business. Yours is calibrated to your own figures, so its results are your business’s.

How it works

How the model works for a smelter and refinery.

  1. How it earns revenue1 formula
    Product pricing and revenue · All processing plants
    Tolling revenueTonnes charged (at least the take-or-pay minimum)Tolling fee per tonne
  2. What drives its costs3 formulas
    Plant emissions and carbon costs · All processing plants
    Carbon cost (net of credits sold)Cost of units surrenderedIncome from credits sold
    Plant emissions and carbon costs · All processing plants
    Plant emissionsMetal outputfrom feed and outputPlant emissions intensityPlant emissions intensity index
    Feed and raw materials · All processing plants
    Feed and raw material costScrap costOther metallics costAlloys and fluxes cost
  3. What it invests in3 formulas
    Plant capex, relines and depreciation · All processing plants
    Plant capexSustaining capexProject capex
    Plant capex, relines and depreciation · All processing plants
    Plant depreciationDepreciation of the existing plant (straight line)from straight lineDepreciation of the project (from commissioning)from from commissioning
    Plant capex, relines and depreciation · All processing plants
    Closing net book valueClosing book value of the existing plantClosing project book value
  4. How it is funded3 formulas
    Debt
    RepaymentsScheduled repaymentsPrepayments from an equity raise and the cash sweep
    Debt
    Closing balanceOpening balanceDrawdownsRepayments
    Debt
    Interest expenseOpening balanceAll-in interest rateshare of the year
  5. How profit becomes cash3 formulas
    Metal and raw material inventory · All processing plants
    Metal and raw material inventoryRaw materialsMetal in processFinished metal
    Metal and raw material inventory · All processing plants
    Opening metal and raw material inventoryOpening raw materialsOpening metal in processOpening finished metal
    Working capital
    Trade receivablesRevenuefrom statementsDebtor daysDays in period
What it covers

22 parts, each one tested.

Every part is a tested building block with its own checks: yours is put together from the ones your business needs.

  • CPI forecastConsensus curve with long-run anchor
  • Exchange rate (US dollar)Exchange rate by financial year
  • Corporate costsFixed cost base indexed to CPI
  • Working capitalFull working capital
  • Income taxCorporate rate with tax losses
  • DebtAmortising term loan
  • Dividends and distributionsPayout of net profit
  • Discounted cash flow valuationDCF on free cash flow to the firm
  • Multiples valuationEV / EBITDA multiple
  • Decommissioning and restoration provisionsPresent value with accretion
  • Interest-rate hedgingHedged share at a fixed rate
  • Key-metric summaryLast-twelve-month and run-rate metrics
  • Discount rate (WACC)CAPM at target gearing
  • Metal and raw material inventoryDays of costRaw materials, metal in process and finished metal, and price effects on metal held.
  • Plant emissions and carbon costsDeclining baseline with credits and surrendersEmissions from smelting, refining and steelmaking and the cost of carbon pricing, baselines and border adjustments.
  • Plant registerCapacity by unit (potlines, furnaces, trains)Capacity, book value and remaining life of each processing plant and its main units.
  • Feed and outputFeed × metal content × recoveryTonnes fed to the plant and the metal or product it makes.
  • Product pricing and revenueTolling fee per tonneThe price realised for the plant's products, or the fees it earns for processing others' material.
  • Feed and raw materialsScrap and metallics at a metal-linked priceThe cost of concentrate, ore, scrap and other raw materials the plant consumes.
  • Power and fuelPower price linked to the metal priceElectricity, gas and other energy consumed by the plant.
  • Conversion costsCost lines with driversLabour, maintenance, consumables and overheads of running the plant.
  • Plant capex, relines and depreciationConstruction or expansion projectSustaining and project capex, relines and rebuilds, depreciation and impairment.
Key numbers

The numbers it tracks.

  1. 01concentrate treated (t)
  2. 02metal produced
  3. 03TC/RC income
  4. 04free metal
  5. 05by-product credits
  6. 06conversion cost per tonne
  7. 07EBITDA
Used for

What it is used for.

Also used for
  • Scenarios and sensitivities
Related models

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Every mining and resources model

Looking for a smelter and refinery financial model template? Ours arrives built for your business, with your figures in it.

See a finished model, sheet by sheet

The sample is built on illustrative figures and describes no real business. Models are calculations prepared from the information you provide. They are not financial advice and must be independently verified. See our terms.