Question

A mining company is considering a new project. Because the mine has received a permit, the project would be legal; but it would cause significant harm to a nearby river. The firm could spend an additional $10.66 million at Year 0 to mitigate the environmental Problem, but it would not be required to do so. Developing the mine (without mitigation) would cost $66 million, and the expected cash inflows would be $22 million per year for 5 years. If the firm does invest in mitigation, the annual inflows would be $23 million. The risk-adjusted WACC is 14%.

A. Calculate the NPV and IRR with mitigation. Round your answers to two decimal places. Do not round your intermediate calculations. Enter your answer for NPV in millions. For example, an answer of $10,550,000 should be entered as 10.55.
NPV ______$ million
IRR _______%

Calculate the NPV and IRR without mitigation. Round your answers to two decimal places. Do not round your intermediate calculations. Enter your answer for NPV in millions. For example, an answer of $10,550,000 should be entered as 10.55.
NPV _____$ million
IRR ______%

B.  

How should the environmental effects be dealt with when this project is evaluated?

I. The environmental effects should be treated as a remote possibility and should only be considered at the time in which they actually occur.

II. The environmental effects if not mitigated could result in additional loss of cash flows and/or fines and penalties due to ill will among customers, community, etc. Therefore, even though the mine is legal without mitigation, the company needs to make sure that they have anticipated all costs in the "no mitigation" analysis from not doing the environmental mitigation.

III. The environmental effects should be ignored since the mine is legal without mitigation.

IV. The environmental effects should be treated as a sunk cost and therefore ignored.

V. The environmental effects if not mitigated would result in additional cash flows. Therefore, since the mine is legal without mitigation, there are no benefits to performing a "no mitigation" analysis.

C. Should this project be undertaken?

If so, should the firm do the mitigation?

I. Under the assumption that all costs have been considered, the company would not mitigate for the environmental impact of the project since its NPV with mitigation is greater than its NPV when mitigation costs are not included in the analysis.

II. Under the assumption that all costs have been considered, the company would not mitigate for the environmental impact of the project since its IRR without mitigation is greater than its IRR when mitigation costs are included in the analysis.

III. Under the assumption that all costs have been considered, the company would mitigate for the environmental impact of the project since its NPV with mitigation is greater than its NPV when mitigation costs are not included in the analysis.

IV. Under the assumption that all costs have been considered, the company would not mitigate for the environmental impact of the project since its NPV without mitigation is greater than its NPV when mitigation costs are included in the analysis.

V. Under the assumption that all costs have been considered, the company would mitigate for the environmental impact of the project since its IRR with mitigation is greater than its IRR when mitigation costs are not included in the analysis.

Answer 1

A	Calculate the NPV and IRR with mitigation
	Year	Cash flow($ in millions)	Discount factor @ 14%	Present Value($ in millions)
	0	-76.66	1.0000	-76.66
	1	23	0.8772	20.1754386
	2	23	0.7695	17.69775315
	3	23	0.6750	15.52434487
	4	23	0.5921	13.61784638
	5	23	0.5194	11.94547928
				2.30
	The NPV with mitigation is $ 2.30 m
	The IRR for mine with mitigation is
	By using IRR function in excel we get
	IRR($H$5:$H$10,15%)
	15.24%
	IRR = 15.24% APPROX
	Calculate the NPV and IRR without mitigation
	Year	Cash flow($ in millions)	Discount factor @ 14%	Present Value($ in millions)
	0	-66	1.0000	-66.0000
	1	22	0.8772	19.2982
	2	22	0.7695	16.9283
	3	22	0.6750	14.8494
	4	22	0.5921	13.0258
	5	22	0.5194	11.4261
				9.53
	NPV of the project would be $ 9.53 million
	The IRR for mine with mitigation is
	By using IRR function in excel we get
	IRR($H$23:$H$28,15%)
	19.86%
	IRR = 19.86% APPROX
B	How should the environmental effects be dealt with when this project is evaluated?
	The environmental effects if not mitigated could result in additional loss of cash flows and/or fines and penalties due to ill will among customers, community, etc. Therefore, even though the mine is legal without mitigation, the company needs to make sure that they have anticipated all costs in the "no mitigation" analysis from not doing the environmental mitigation.
	The correct answer is Option II
C	Should this project be undertaken?
	Even of mitigation is undertaken the company has positive NPV. Hence, the project should be undertaken
	If so, should the firm do the mitigation?
	Under the assumption that all costs have been considered, the company would not mitigate for the environmental impact of the project since its NPV without mitigation is greater than its NPV when mitigation costs are included in the analysis.