MINING CONSULTANTS
This approach is evident in the recent development of Deswik NOVA, a product for open-pit planning that the company has recently launched.
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.
Lalousis said:“ One of the strengths of NOVA, which we consider to be more of a short-to-medium-term planning tool, is the ability to pick it up at-will to run scenarios. Our clients have other duties as well, which draws them away from our software. The development of NOVA respects that fact.”
While Deswik will inevitably be compared with other consultants in this space – indeed IM readers will be comparing notes – Lalousis said the company counts other consultants as its customers, too, noting that its software solutions augment the teams they have working on behalf of the mining houses.
“ We like to work as closely with them as possible because they have a marked impact on the industry, getting involved in a lot of these big projects at early stages,” she said.“ This is key for us in ensuring our solutions can be accessed throughout a project’ s lifecycle.”
Experience matters
One such Deswik consulting customer is SLR Consulting, which has become one of the largest firms in this space after a breathless period of acquisition activity over the last few years.
The product software, data and tools that SLR pairs with its technical capabilities provide clients with“ science-based foresight” and insight they can act on, the company said, which is supported by evidence to strengthen resilience and guide decision making.
Marco Maestri, Global Mining Sector Director for the company, said technology is a useful lever in the consulting space, albeit one that still requires embedded expertise to provide real client value.
“ The most pressing constraint in consultancy is access to quality people, and even the most sophisticated software package isn’ t going to replace a tailings engineer with 20 years of dam design experience,” he told IM.
He said the company’ s consultants use technology to augment their workflows and make them more efficient.
“ If a resource geologist spends two days reconciling drill hole data before they can think about the orebody, that represents time that could otherwise be spent applying their expertise,” he said.“ We try to standardise tasks like data
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SLR specialists work across every stage of the mining lifecycle, including mine closure
handling, checking and reporting to improve efficiency.”
By spending less time on manual entry and QA / QC functions, SLR consultants can deliver more to clients for the same fee, according to Maestri.
This increased efficiency is helpful across the spectrum of work the company does, with ongoing disclosure requirements representing a good example.“ Whether it’ s S-K 1300, NI 43-101, or JORC, the amount of work sitting behind a Competent Person( CP) or Qualified Person( QP) sign-off has increased while fees haven’ t moved much,” Maestri explained.“ We’ ve standardised how those reports are assembled and reviewed, allowing the CP / QP to focus on applying their experience and opinion.
“ Technology also helps us work more effectively at a global level, making it easier to share resources, collaborate across offices and put the best person on a project regardless of where they sit.”
This latter integration dynamic is particularly important for SLR as it has added new companies to the group, ensuring it delivers“ a single output as One Team”.
“ Our specialists work across every stage of the mining lifecycle, using software suited to their discipline within an integrated framework,” Maestri said.“ This helps reduce gaps between disciplines and allows us to manage the whole process under one roof.”
This has seen SLR partner with ClimSystems, which supports the climate resilience and risk modelling work it undertakes in areas like water and infrastructure, with the company now selling that product in its own right.
“ Through RCS Global, we gained access to VINE, which supports supply chain mapping and traceability, at a time when customers and regulators increasingly want to know where materials come from,” Maestri added.“ Forte Dynamics also added a specialist heap leach modelling capability to our offering that isn’ t readily available off-the-shelf.”
SLR is also building its own AI capability and applying it internally to routine tasks such as document handling, first-pass reviews and administration to, Maestri said, free up personnel to spend more time on the engineering and technical work that clients value.
Another value driver Maestri picked out here is the team’ s ability to leverage cross-disciplinary collaboration, offering up an example:“ Our energy teams in Chile are helping major mining producers with decarbonisation initiatives, while, on other mining projects, the work is led by ecologists, hydrogeologists, or social performance specialists.”
The idea that mine operations would look to leverage expertise from outside the industry would appear foreign to many stakeholders a few decades back, but Maestri said these same groups are paying more attention to where and how assets are mined than they were 10 or 15 years ago.
“ Mining key performance indicators now extend beyond just profit and loss, and governments are much more involved in the sector,” he said.“ Critical minerals policy, offtake support, state-backed finance and export controls have become important considerations in market reports, business cases and feasibility studies.
“ And, like everyone else, we’ re waiting to see just how much AI changes things. Mining is still an industry where experience matters, so that’ s a constant. What continues to change is how that experience is engaged and applied.”
Amplifying engineering judgement
At AFRY that, experience is being leveraged across powerful tools that instead of identifying a single“ best” solution, captures an entire solution landscape and the pathway of progressively better solutions for clients to consider alongside the tradeoffs.
This is part of the Hill of Value( HoV) Strategy Optimisation platform, an
International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2026