IM 2020 October 20 | Page 12

MINING CONSULTANTS
“ Clients are looking for expert assistance to help them best utilise the big data being recorded at their operating mines ,” AMC ’ s Patrick Smith says
n Challenges and investments required for logistics , especially for bulk materials ; and n A volatile energy price environment .
DMT ’ s Dr Roubos added to this : “ We are living through a progressive evolution across the entire sector , as much on the policy side as on operations .
“ Mining companies are embracing the need to have a positive impact , initially through more cosmetic corporate social responsibility activities and , more recently , through fundamental ESG commitments .
“ Consequently , the floodgates of innovation have really opened in mining over the past four to five years and technology has developed rapidly to provide safer , more efficient and more transparent processes .”
Adding value
Factoring in these changes , where can mining consultants add the most value ?
Value generation starts early in a project ’ s life from a consultant ’ s perspective , according to AMC ’ s Smith .
“ Making the right strategic decisions across production rate , cutoff grade and mining method before these parameters get locked in can set the project up for long-term success ,” he said . Stantec ’ s Treen agreed with Smith ’ s sentiments . “ In my mind , it is having the opportunity to be involved in a project early – and throughout the project – that brings value .
“ In addition , the partnership between the consultant and the mining companies offers another opportunity to add value because so much value is added in seeing projects through – a strong partnership unlocks real value .”
Collaboration and context are key value drivers in DMT ’ s mining work , according to Dr Roubos . “ The real specialism here is to develop a consultancy approach that has the dual ability of meeting the needs of the industry today , while
also understanding wider industry changes and helping clients develop and adapt within their transformation journey ,” he said .
An understanding of the entire mining process and the ability to apply this to a project / mine in an orderly manner is a value differentiator for CSA Global , Karl van Olden , Manager Mining , says .
“ The most important value that a consultancy can bring to our clients is the ‘ big picture ’ understanding of the project development pipeline and how all of the multi-disciplinary components are co-dependent on each other ,” he told IM .
“ In almost every job we do , there are interdependencies that we identify with our client that they did not have sight of . In this way , we help them do the necessary work in time and in the right order so that they have smoother running processes for technical analysis that may be overlooked ( eg geo-metallurgy during exploration , rehabilitation and closure planning before startup , stakeholder engagement , licensing board approvals , and attracting funding ).
“ This way we save time and money , and maintain the developer ’ s credibility with stakeholders .”
Baudry from RPMGlobal , which has a leading mining software arm of its own , sees the ability to leverage such technology as a key ‘ value add ’.
“ There is no doubt that our ability to access the full suite of RPMGlobal ’ s integrated software products gives us the capacity to work with big data , quickly assess scenarios and provide our clients with informative answers that are grounded in their own primary data and our ingrained mining knowledge , having completed over 15,000 studies in the past 50 years ,” he said .
The size of the company and stage of development has a bearing on this value generation , too , Baudry says .
“ At a junior level , it would be fair to say that many organisations do not have the in-house teams to successfully move from exploration through to feasibility-study stage ,” he said . “ For those particular companies , engaging with a trusted supplier like RPMGlobal adds huge value as we assist them on this value journey over time .
“ For others , engaging with RPMGlobal in a peer review capacity can assist in ensuring companies are not operating in a corporate thought bubble which may hold culturally driven flaws .”
MEC Mining ’ s Catania breaks this value question down into ‘ greenfield ’ and ‘ brownfield ’ opportunities .
“ With the optionality of greenfield mining , there is an inherently large value that can be added or destroyed during the early stages of the mining life cycle ,” he said . “ So , there must be a particularly high level of expertise applied when determining the most appropriate mining methodology .”
Constant changes in technology , commodity prices and cost variables may justify a change in operating mentality or methodology , though ,
“ Requests for a mining study these days often come with the request to ‘ design the mine of five years from now ’ not the ‘ mine of today ’,” Philippe Baudry of RPMGlobal says
resulting in opportunities to realise significant value in the brownfield productivity and expansion stages of the life cycle , he said .
And , when it comes to economic studies , sourcing the best geological and engineering expertise with regional understanding is the “ most critical way to extract value and also mitigate risk in investments ”, Catania says .
SRK ’ s Braun took an even wider perspective when assessing this value generation question : “ Major mining companies tend to lead the industry in terms of defining and applying best practices for project development , operations and closure in a manner that generates value for shareholders . This includes aligning with rising investor and lender expectations for ESG principles .”
Major miners have the size and financial power to commit the resources needed to implement these practices , according to Braun . Junior and mid-tier miners also contribute leadership in these areas ; however , their capacity to fund such initiatives is limited in comparison , he says .
“ This , in turn , leads to lost value with respect to the investment community ,” he added .
“ Consultants who help the industry define best practice and who understand rising investor expectations can create significant value in the mining life and investment cycle by helping all sectors of the industry with implementing essential elements of these initiatives and scaling up the effort as greenfield projects develop and / or brownfield operations expand .”
ESG on the up
While much of the mining community embarks on extracting minerals and metals that contribute towards global growth and the acceleration of electrification and decarbonisation , it should not be forgotten that these companies are governed by their stakeholders .
Just as mining company boards and executives should factor in all stakeholder opinions in their decision-making process , mining consultants , too ,
10 International Mining | OCTOBER 2020