There is currently much talk in the mining industry about the need for innovation and the start of transformative corporate innovation projects but little discussion about how to value this effort. The focus on innovation is part of a larger category of valuation problems involving information-gathering which also includes exploration and technical pilot programs. While these problems arise in many different parts of the industry and at different times during a project life cycle, they all share the common issues of how to estimate their value and also how to manage these projects so that they create value. This presentation discusses the value of information-gathering in the mining industry and how to properly structure the value calculation for these projects. A case study involving a pilot plant is used to show that value creation is not just dependent upon the probability of achieving the benefits of a successful project but also on how an information-gathering project is structured and the quality of information gathered during each project stage. Without understanding how these additional considerations impact value, it is difficult to put failures into context and to manage an overall corporate program of information-gathering projects that creates value.