Well if you develop new drives to access new areas. The accounting treatment is probably an expense in that year. For that year the cost of production will be higher. However, the revenue may show up for years afterwards (i.e. capital like in nature).
For instance, the expense for the new tailings dam built at Renison will be used for years.
I'm not expert on accounting for mining and some expenditures like sustaining capital are highly debatable. However, conservative accounting standards treat them as expenses and they show up as costs immediately.
On the flip side, all the new drill hits that haven't found their way into resources let alone reserves and are totally accounted for except as expenses. Mining executives are always bemoaning the fact and it's part of the explanation of why mining shares swing so strongly in value. An accountant like BC will know exactly what I mean (and I beg his indulgence for my crude explanation).
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