Background
Lassonde Stage Valuation
The financier Pierre Lassonde published this graph a number of years ago, showing qualitatively how project values fluctuate over time.
Building on Lassonde's qualitative framework, we have quantified value creation by analyzing real-world transaction data (e.g., property sales, joint ventures, and acquisitions) reported in mining news, databases, and regulatory filings. This approach uses the market approach to valuation—benchmarking against comparable deals—to assign dollar figures to the Lassonde discovery and delineation stages.
Returns escalate exponentially—from 0.5x at initial discovery to over 20x at full delineation—as data reduces uncertainty.