I came across a giant reference book published by the AusIMM...

I came across a giant reference book published by the AusIMM once. It was excellent, had all you needed to know to work out indicative operating costs, capital costs, for a range of situations. If you were looking at capital costs for example, you could look up how much it cost to build a water pipeline per kilometre. Had detailed information on costs associated with electricity generation, distribution, and storage. Road construction costs. Facilities for the workers. It had everything! Unfortunately I had neither the interest, brain power, or the time to digest everything, but for the zealous ones I'd suggest looking the thing up, forgot its name but you'll know when you find it. :)