MINING CONSULTANTS
with organisational maturity when embarking on such projects.
“ People seem to jump at the latest thing they’ ve seen at a tech expo or similar, but they need to tie it back to where that company is today on the maturity curve and answer some key questions: Have we mapped out our business process? Do we understand where the bottlenecks are? Do we understand what parts of that can be automated or technology applied to it? And then, do we have a suitably mature technology that our organisation is ready to adopt and leverage that we can then onboard to drive value.’
“ There is a perception out there – particularly with AI – that the technology will magically deliver value for them, but that is not the case.”
Organisations also need to apply governance and related cyber security considerations at the same time as assessing the value proposition.
Narozny cautions that Wood’ s work on“ bridging the gap between mining operations and digital transformation” requires the ability to spot the value potential early before significant time and financial investment have been made.
The company has success stories to back up this strategy too, highlighting product yield improvements with a process optimisation project at a metallurgical coal mine, product recovery increases with an AI-backed froth flotation optimisation project, and throughput and process efficiency enhancements in SAG mill operations following deployment of a machine-learning model.
Alan Langridge, Global Minerals & Metals Sector Lead at Wood, said:“ While some of our peers have only recently ventured into the use of digital twins and intelligent control systems, Wood has been delivering sustained business value with these technologies for years.”
The company’ s own internal AI use is also geared towards improving the quality of its deliverables as well as accelerating client outcomes to, for example, deliver feasibility study inputs faster and shorten commissioning schedules.
Narozny concluded:“ Mining does not need technology for technology’ s sake. It needs technology that understands the asset, the process and the operating environment, and that drives tangible operator value.”
Focused on the value-add
“ We want to leave behind a product that our customers can use independently, with the comfort of having global support and access to someone that has the technical know-how to help with the work they carry out.”
Calliope Lalousis’ summary of Deswik’ s
44 purpose is easy to follow, hence the reason why its software is in use at more than 1,330 sites across the globe.
These software solutions are complemented by more than 200 mining professionals who operate as consultants for the business, interacting with clients to solve problems and software developers to ensure Deswik software is customer-driven and embedded with operational reality.
Lalousis, Chief Operating Officer at Deswik, told IM:“ Deswik is identified mostly in the market as a software provider, but we started as a consulting business. Our founders and initial collaborators started in the consulting space in 2008, carrying out work for some of the large mining houses in Australia.”
– the mining professionals that speak the same language as our clients and the software developers we have in house – that provides the‘ value-add’ our founders were initially looking to provide mining houses.”
Almost two decades on from the establishment of Deswik, Lalousis believes this focus remains a marked differentiator in the crowded consulting market. This view is also held by Sandvik, which acquired the company recently and incorporated it in the Digital Mining Technologies division within the Sandvik Mining business area.
The company’ s mining professionals can help clients with mine planning, design & scheduling; software implementation; scoping, prefeasibility and feasibility studies; mine plan optimisation; equipment selection
Deswik NOVA simplifies complex processes by providing a guided workflow tailored to open-pit metals projects, allowing users to navigate the mine planning process more effectively, regardless of their experience level, the company says
This initial work – characterised by Lalousis as“ tedious and repetitive” – led the Deswik founders to writing software to accelerate this work process, with the idea that it would free up consultants to add more value for the mining houses in other higher value and interesting work areas.
It eventually got to the point where other consultants, mining houses and contractors were spotting the value opportunity, with Deswik rolling out the first commercial iterations of its software.
“ Our roots are firmly embedded in consulting, and it is still a strong part of what we do,” Lalousis said.“ Our consultants’ interactions with mining companies and other consultants on project work has ended up feeding the development of some of the most successful products we have rolled out to the market.
“ It is the integration of these components
& optimisation; due diligence, peer reviews and audits; and mine rehabilitation, water catchment analysis & closure, among other disciplines.
Lalousis explained that there is typically a software requirement underpinning the consulting work Deswik mining professionals take on, with this work providing most value in highly complex projects.
“ Having mining professionals to call on and a software offering that has embedded expertise within it has allowed us to empower people to deliver their day-to-day work on their own, without the constant support that the traditional consulting models entail,” she explained.
This is increasingly advantageous when factoring in the ongoing skills shortage in the sector, which has led to companies looking for consulting firms to fill out in-house mining teams on project-based work.
International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2026