http://goldinvestingnews.com/16967/the-life-cycle-of-a-mine-resource-definition-and-the-feasibility-study.html
Bankable feasibility studies
Often the term “bankable” precedes the term feasibility study. This term is often misunderstood to mean that a project is feasible. Adding this term simply means that the level of effort that has been incorporated into the study is sufficient for outside financing provided the project is feasible. Typically “bankable” means an overall accuracy level of plus or minus 15 percent on the feasibility study. Just like feasibility studies, bankable feasibility studies may also determine that a project is “unfeasible.” It is important to be clear that “bankable” only describes the level of accuracy of the analysis and has no relation to project’s feasibility.
Feasibility
The feasibility stage is basically a more comprehensive preliminary feasibility study. However, during the feasibility study, the study into the economics of a potential mine advances to include mine design, production schedule, gold recoveries, plant design, consideration of environmental issues, detailed capital and operating costs estimates, and an economic model of the project. During the feasibility stage gold reserves can be declared. This phase marks the culmination of the years of painstaking research and data collection, where an exploration company will ultimately make the decision whether or not to proceed with mine development.
