THE RISKS IN THE GOLD MINING INDUSTRY: CLASSIFICATION, METHODS OF IDENTIFICATION

Abstract

The paper proposes the risk classification of the economic activity for the enterprises in the gold mining industry, which allows to perform the structured description of a set of the possible risks in this industry and group the risk factors of the gold mining enterprises functioning in conditions of the uncertainty of the internal and external environments. This classification may serve as a basis for the further risk identification and assessment. As the classification criteria of the risks related to the gold mining industry the authors have identified eight features: sources of the origin; extent of the development; types of the economic activity; extent of the damage; objectivity; duration of exposure; nature of the costs and nature of the damage. The paper substantiates the necessity of using not only the economical and statistical methods of the risk evaluation, but also heuristic and simulation methods for the proper characteristic of the gold production and economic processes. This would allow taking into account the uncertainty of the initial information, as well as the high dynamism of social and economic processes and the subjective nature of the decisions for the risks assessing and prediction.