www.miningglobal.com
February 2018
HELPING MINERS TO
‘DE-RISK’ REVIEWING TRANSACTIONS AT BANKS AND ARMING THEM WITH THE TOOLS TO FIGHT FINANCIAL CRIME
THE MINING OF TOMORROW MINING BIG DATA AND HOW TECHNOLOGY WILL PLAY ITS PART
THE STATE OF PLAY IN MINING INNOVATION
BLUEROCK DIAMONDS
THE JUNIOR DIAMOND MINER WITH GLOBAL AMBITIONS
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FOREWORD WELCOME TO THE first 2018 issue of Mining Global, packed with a bigger variety of content than ever. This month in our first feature, Dale Benton speaks exclusively to Adam Waugh, CEO of Blue Rock Diamonds, who offers insight into the company’s journey to becoming a top diamond producer. We also have some interesting articles on the potential of utilising big data in mining, whether IoT could transform environmental monitoring, with insight from Joe Carr, Director of Mining at IoT developer and solutions provider Inmarsat. Further, we take a look at the risks involved with bribery and corruption in mining and, vitally, how companies can safeguard against these. We then take you through all the key upcoming events in the mining sector, and our top 10 article offers a quick lowdown on the world’s biggest diamond mines. Be sure to check out this month’s exclusive reports on major companies working on exciting projects, including TriStar Gold Inc, Rainbow Rare Earths Limited, and La Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG). We sincerely hope you enjoy the issue, and as always, please tweet your feedback to @MiningGlobal
Enjoy the issue!
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BLUEROCK DIAMONDS: THE JUNIOR DIAMOND MINER WITH GLOBAL AMBITIONS MINING 4.0
O P E R AT I O N A L E X C E L L E N C E
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER:
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THE MINING OF TOMORROW
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HELPING MINERS TO ‘DE-RISK’
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TOP 10 DIAMOND MINES
TOP 10
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Events
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C O M PA N Y P R O F I L ES
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Rainbow Rare Earths Limited AFRICA
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Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee AFRICA
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TriStar Gold, Inc.
LATIN AMERICA
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Schneider Electric AUSTRALIA
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BLUEROCK DIAMONDS:
THE JUNIOR DIAMOND MINER WITH GLOBAL AMBITIONS BlueRock Diamonds was a company in disarray, but through a successful transformation of culture and process at its flagship Kareevlei (South Africa) project, the company is now firmly placed as one of the top 10 diamond producers in the world, thanks in part to CEO Adam Waugh… Writ ten by DALE BE NTON
M I N I N G S T R AT E G I E S “IN MINING, AS with any project, the proof of the pudding is the results, and the last two years have shown some really great results for us,” says Adam Waugh, CEO of BlueRock Diamonds. BlueRock Diamonds, established in 2012, is a diamond exploration company founded with one principle – to acquire or invest in underexploited diamond mines in South Africa and sub Saharan Africa. The company’s flagship operation is the Kareevlei Diamond Project, a 3,000-hectare mining right in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. An open-pit mining plan has been in operation at Kareevlei since late 2015, but the drilling work and mining exploration was first conducted back in the early nineties. In the time since, multiple companies have come and gone, completing light exploration, drilling work and sampling before striking out. BlueRock Diamonds acquired the mining right for the Kareevlei tenement back in 2013 and soon discovered five known diamondiferous kimberlite pipes. Following a trial mining period in 2014, utilising a mining plant that had 10
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“ I CAN PROUDLY SAY THAT RIGHT NOW WE HAVE A 100% SAFE AND HEALTHY WORKING ENVIRONMENT FOR ALL STAFF” – Adam Waugh, CEO of BlueRock Diamonds
been put in place from a previous company, BlueRock realised that there was more to the site than had previously been established. “The trial mining period was conducted using a mining plant that we’d acquired and it wasn’t long before we’d begun to recover a very small number of diamonds,” says Waugh. “We realised in actual fact, the
value of these diamonds was much bigger than we first thought, partly because they were courser and partly because the percentage of the gemquality diamonds was much higher.” So, this begged the question: why hadn’t any of the previous organisations discovered as much? The answer, Waugh believes, is that during the nineties and even throughout the early
2000s, there was a thoroughly different mindset throughout the diamond exploration industry. “People were more interested in looking to be the next big show in town, to find the next big thing,” he says. “And so, to a certain extent, at that time, with the work they did, it was small in terms of resource and with a low grading. It really was unexciting. 11
M I N I N G S T R AT E G I E S “That’s why those parties didn’t really take it any further than small scale exploration, because the data they’d uncovered at that time just wasn’t what they were looking for.” Fast forward to 2018 and BlueRock Diamonds is coming off of the back of a hugely successful year with Kareevlei. BlueRock published a report in late 2017 that revealed that the company was recovering higher quantities of larger, higher value stones, and its value per carat places it within the top 10 kimberlites in the world. “The late 2017 release was key, because it showed a production tonnage of 25,147 tonnes [November
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2017],” says Waugh. “We’ve targeted 25,000 tonnes a month and on average, over the last four or five months, we’ve hit in excess of 20,000 so we are able to demonstrate that the mine plan is working and consistent.” This success is certainly no small feat, considering that when Waugh joined the company in 2015, BlueRock was struggling. From an over dependency on failing suppliers, contractors down to a breakdown of communication and overall strategic direction across the management, Waugh had something of a task on his hands. Entering as a non-executive Director, he headed out to South Africa to get a feel for the organisation and, more importantly, the Kareevlei Diamond mine operation. “It was important that I came out here to get to know the team, the way of working, the operation and then report back to the board,” says Waugh. “It is fair to say that I uncovered some inefficiencies that the board
“ H OW TO OPERATE THE MACHINERY, HOW TO ESTABLISH AND ENSURE A SAFE WORKING ENVIRONMENT, PHYSICAL HEALTH – THESE ARE ALL THINGS THAT, ON PAPER, ARE BASIC, BUT THROUGH A CULTURAL IGNORANCE WERE COMPLETELY IGNORED” – Adam Waugh, CEO of BlueRock Diamonds
Diamonds from the Kareevlei Mine had increasingly become uncomfortable with, and following further investigation, decided that the operating team here in Kimberley needed to change.” Over the course of the following 12 months, Waugh set out to make wholesale changes. These changes included changing the structure
of the team, the way the company was operating the mine, the way the company worked with third party contractors and even the process of diamond recovery. One element that was crucial to the transformation of BlueRock Diamonds’ fortunes, and something that is integral to the success of any 13
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mining operation, is the relationship that the company had with local government and the regulator. In BlueRock’s case, there was room for improvement. “It’s incredibly important,” says Waugh. “We were actually on the wrong end of it in 2016 and this was down to our compliance procedures, or lack thereof.” 14
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This in fact saw Kareevlei shut down by the regulator until it was satisfied that the company could in fact comply with mining regulations. This, of course, proved difficult as it forced Waugh and the board of directors to ask questions as to where the company would proceed from this point forward. “We had to ask whether we wanted
Kareevlei processing plant
to mine any more, or whether we were in a position to help the mine or whether it was a lost cause,” he says. “So, we know first-hand just how important it is to be compliant and to have that relationship.” BlueRock committed a significant amount of time and investment towards rectifying this on its journey to becoming a compliant mine
organisation. The problem that Waugh discovered, was that there was no real culture of regulation and compliance prior to his arrival. “There was a real lack of compliance and I’d go as far as saying no respect for the regulator,” he says. “There was a cultural belief that because we were a relatively small mining operation that we 15
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Diamond sharpening
wouldn’t be noticed. But truth be told, being closed for a lack of compliance is an absolute disaster for a diamond mining company.” The hugely successful end to 2017 could not be achieved without getting this incredibly significant component right in the first instance. In fact, Waugh can boast of an organisation, and an operation, that no longer thinks about compliance and the 16
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regulator anymore as it has become that ingrained into company culture. Despite this confidence, it’s still vitally important that measures are in place to ensure that alongside compliance, complacency does not follow. Waugh looks to the past to embrace the future. “In any situation where things go wrong, you ask yourself why,” he says. “And the answer was quite
‘ O VER THE COURSE OF THE FOLLOWING 12 MONTHS, WAUGH SET OUT TO MAKE WHOLESALE CHANGES’ simple, there was no training, nobody in the operation from management down to the guys out in the field had been exposed to any form of training to understand the importance of compliance and just how its implemented across the operation.” Waugh has sought to change this, taking management and a number of key individuals in the Kimberley department to regular seminars and conferences, introducing regular training sessions and dedicating a significant amount of budget towards creating a safe, compliant, efficient and ultimately successful operation. “Really, it’s about understanding where the responsibilities are and understanding just how much you are responsible for the important things,” he says. “How to operate the machinery,
how to establish and ensure a safe working environment, physical health – these are all things that, on paper, are basic, but through a cultural ignorance were completely ignored. “That said, I can proudly say that right now we have a 100% safe and healthy working environment for all staff.” So, BlueRock’s transformation has been quite the success story. Establishing itself as one of the top 10 kimberlite producers in the world, surely this would draw attention from some of the leading players in the diamond industry. Should they be looking over their shoulders? “We aren’t interested in competition,” jokes Waugh. “What this says about BlueRock is that we should be noticed because of the quality of our goods, but also the consistency and predictability. As we look to the future, the demand for the production of kimberlites is only going to improve. “We are a small diamond mining junior and we are making a statement. We are firmly cemented in that top 10 and so people will look at what we do, what we produce and pay high value for those goods.” 17
MINING 4.0
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER:
What is the state of play for big data on the edge of mining innovation? We spoke to some leading industry specialists… Written by KIERON BAIN
MINING 4.0 BIG DATA HAS become big business. Information gathering techniques allow us to inform and drive commercial change and nowhere is this more true than in the mining industry, which relies on accurate decisionmaking to seek out new deposits of minerals in order to process them with maximum efficiency.
DIGGING FOR INFORMATION – ROGER BELL (HANNAM & PARTNERS) Understanding the potential of technology and big data in the mining industry is essential for investors. Knowing how companies plan to create value and returns, drives interest from the market. One business aiding this process is Hannam & Partners, that offers expert advice through Roger Bell, Director of Mining Research. We asked Bell to detail to most significant changes driven by the use of big data in the industry over the last 6-12 months: “I don’t think we have seen any truly revolutionary changes. But automation is increasingly being adopted, whether it is driverless trucks and trains or remote-controlled excavators and 20
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blast-hole drilling. This is going hand in hand with the increasing number of sensors gathering data at key steps of an operation, which are being used to drive process optimisations and predictive maintenance in reducing the risk of human error.” It is clear from Bell’s statement that big data is essential in feeding the range of new technological tools and processes that underline the mining industry. So, how does he believe the rise of new processes will serve to orchestrate future
“ALTHOUGH LEADING MINERS ARE NOW TRYING HARDER TO HANG ON TO GAINS BY PROTECTING THEIR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, THE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE INDUSTRY OF TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENT IS ALMOST ALWAYS EVENTUALLY LOWER PRICES IN REAL-TERMS” – Roger Bell, Hannam & Partners
growth? “I see big data applications as an extension of the neverending process of technological improvement in mining. Companies have and will always be trying to increase output and reduce costs. “Clearly for some players in various sectors, such as the major iron ore miners, the use of these technologies over several years has helped to drive unit costs lower and margins and returns higher. But as their rivals race to replicate these efficiency improvements, cost curves will 21
MINING 4.0 eventually fall in real terms, dragging prices lower, and bringing margins and returns back to normalised levels.” With these leaps in efficiency, Bell looks towards the economic implications created by new processes and optimisations to the end user. “Although leading miners are now trying harder to hang on to gains by protecting their intellectual property, the implications for the industry of technological improvement is almost always eventually lower prices in real-terms. In this way, the history of technology in mining is really the history of human development. If metals never got cheaper we would be stuck in the Stone Age.”
WHERE THE RUBBER HITS THE ROAD – JAMIE MILNE (WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY) One of the companies delivering an impact to key stock processes in the mining industry is World Wide Technology. Its engagement manager, Jamie Milne is working with a mining truck client with a view to improving maintenance downtime and productivity. He gave us a unique insight into a specific case where big data had been used to make a difference, 22
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focusing on the following details: “The company we worked with was facing many typical challenges with its truck fleet, including costly maintenance and operations of trucks, road quality and driver behaviour. In order to enact change within the maintenance regime we set out to gather a cache of data which could then be projected into the future. For example, we used recent information collected from the quotidian activity of mine trucks to forecast potential points of failure in the near-future. “We implemented our models in a number of ways, though reports, alerts, alarms, and mobile and webbased applications. Oil changes, part changes and other maintenance actions can now be carried out before a costly breakdown takes place. Broader insights, from the efficiency of specific truck models to how changes in operations affect model performance, are available through deeper analysis of this data. We aim to provide the experts with the right amount of relevant information to help inform them and facilitate faster and better decision making. Getting the right data points and the right amount of data to
“AS WE CONTINUE TO SHOW VALUE IN ANALYTICS, THIS INSPIRES AND MOTIVATES MORE PEOPLE WITHIN THE ORGANISATION TO INNOVATE AND CREATE A GREATER NUMBER OF LARGER-SCALE PROJECTS” – Jamie Milne, World Wide Technology
provide relevant business insights is often the biggest challenge.” The measure of this success is proven in the real world with reductions in spend and vital man hours servicing the business need. Milne went on to define the outcomes of the project. “Initially we measured financial savings in the tens of millions of dollars. We expect there to be many more tangible and intangible benefits. For example, we created one report and a set of alerts to
reduce idle time and achieved a significant reduction in idle hours per truck per day, but what we didn’t account for was the improvement in engine health and longevity due to the reduction in inefficient idling. “We see big data as a continuation of the investment in technology and dedication to data-driven decisionmaking by the mines. As we continue to show value in analytics, this inspires and motivates more people within the organisation to innovate and create a greater number of 23
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“OVERALL, IT HAS BEEN ESTIMATED THAT DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN METALS AND MINING GLOBALLY WILL GENERATE ADDITIONAL INDUSTRY VALUE OF MORE THAN $320BN OVER THE NEXT DECADE: APPROXIMATELY $190BN FOR THE MINING SECTOR AND $130BN FOR THE METALS SECTOR” – Anastasia Mishanina, Severstal
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larger-scale projects. Due to the efficiencies which we have achieved, the mining experts should have more time to develop these ideas and challenge the status quo.”
THE FLOW OF KNOWLEDGE – ANASTASIA MISHANINA (SEVERSTAL) No one is more acutely aware of how to deploy the findings of big data to its advantage than Severstal. This Russian steelmaker has developed the largest data lake in the country’s mining sector in its drive to optimise operations. Anastasia Mishanina, Head of PR, spoke about some of the advantages this accumulation of information is presenting to the company’s mining operations. “Data processing is at the heart of all aspects of digital transformation. Infrastructure that is able to store and analyse enormous data files generated by the company is key to our digital strategy. It forms the basis of all our further digital projects. Severstal is a vertically integrated steel and mining company and over the last year we have made considerable progress as part of the steel and mining industry’s digital advancement, with the creation of the
largest data lake in Russian industry. “Severstal’s Data Lake stores data collected from transmitters on industrial equipment (Internet of Things), process management information system servers and MES-systems. We only launched our digital transformation strategy at the end of 2016 and we have ambitious plans that will improve our competitive position globally. For the moment, our main projects are at our steel assets. There, the stored data supports predictive analytics projects in areas including predictive equipment maintenance and product quality optimisation.” Going on to explore how the company has utilised these data assets, Mishanina highlighted some of the specific ways in which Severstal is already reaping the benefits of this strategy. “But we also see great potential for digital transformation at our mining assets. Safety is the main priority for us and we have already started using digital tools to improve safety at our mining assets. For example, a new safety system for miners is being created at Vorkutaugol, our coking coal mining asset. It provides wireless 25
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‘IT HAS BEEN ESTIMATED THAT DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN METALS AND MINING GLOBALLY WILL GENERATE ADDITIONAL INDUSTRY VALUE OF MORE THAN $320BN OVER THE NEXT DECADE: APPROXIMATELY $190BN FOR THE MINING SECTOR AND $130BN FOR THE METALS SECTOR’
connection between the ground level and underground areas of the mine. This improves the gas monitoring system, the system for locating underground personnel, and the alarm system. New equipment with faster signal transmission sensors is being introduced for miners. “We are also now analysing the potential of initiatives such as: complex digital design of our mines 26
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and open pits; digital tools for logistics and inventory optimisation; big data based prediction tools for unsafe operation amongst many others.” Finally, Mishanina outlined the future financial rewards that are predicted to befall the industry over the next coming five to 10-year period. “Overall, it has been estimated that digital transformation in metals and mining globally will generate additional
• Integrated enterprise, platforms and ecosystems • Next–generation data analytics and decision support For mining, the largest profits are expected from the digitally enabled workforce and automation and the implementation of robotics.”
IN CONCLUSION
industry value of more than $320bn over the next decade: approximately $190bn for the mining sector and $130bn for the metals sector. The total for metals and mining is equivalent to 2.7% of industry revenue and 9% of industry profit. The most significant impact will come from: • Automation, robotics and operational hardware • Digitally enabled workforce
As processing power continues to grow exponentially and new algorithms demonstrate an unbridled learning power, it is simple enough to extrapolate how these emergent technologies will dictate changes to all industries. However, due to the vast amount of touchpoints where the information systems of mining operators meet with real world environments, this will potentially be one of the sectors that may be truly revolutionised by AI and robotic systems. Ultimately the benefits this will present to the planet as a whole cannot be underplayed, but most notably will it be the sustainable implementation of key processes that allows the industry to flourish whilst preserving our global bounty. 27
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THE MINING OF TOMORROW DIRECTOR OF MINING AT IOT DEVELOPER AND SOLUTIONS PROVIDER INMARSAT JOE CARR TALKS TO US REGARDING THE FUTURE OF MINING, AND HOW TECHNOLOGY WILL PLAY ITS PART Writ ten by DALE BE NTON
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HISTORICALLY, THE MINING industry has been one that lags behind other sectors when it comes to technology and innovation. The biggest buzzwords we hear across industry today – artificial intelligence, automation, the internet of things – are all keywords that have moved beyond being the next big thing. There are numerous examples of automation and IoT active today in 30
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healthcare, supply chain and even construction, yet mining has still some major ground to make up. Technological innovation in mining seems to be something just on the horizon, edging closer and closer, but make no mistake, conversations as to how the industry can embrace technology and innovation, are happening at the highest level more and more.
“ I N THE PRE-EXPLORATION STAGE, (MINING) IT’S VERY PRO RISK AND VERY UP FOR TAKING SOME CHANCES IN ORDER TO REAP FUTURE REWARDS. THERE IS A SLIP IN ATTITUDES WHEN YOU GET INTO AN OPERATIONAL CAPACITY AND A BUDGET CAPACITY AND A CAPEX ONGOING CAPACITY” – JOE CARR, DIRECTOR OF MINING, INMARSAT ENTERPRISE
In 2017, a study revealed that 47% of mining organisations identified the monitoring of environmental changes as the number one priority for deploying IoT. In addition, 57% of respondents from the mining sector reported that the most “exciting innovation” that IoT will enable is improved environmental monitoring. The study was conducted by Inmarsat, a leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services and IoT solutions for a number of industry sectors. “The mining industry has historically been a slow industry to change. I don’t think anyone within the mining industry would dispute that. It’s always been a little bit of a, well, we’ll change when we need to,” says Joe Carr, Director of Mining at Inmarsat Enterprise. “Now, when you look at mining industry companies, especially when you look at the majors – Rio Tinto, BHP, Glencore, the big miners of this world – they are fully focused on the technology, because they see the benefits and drivers that it brings.” As Director of Mining, and a career that has seen him developing new technologies for mining companies, Carr has seen first hand how the 31
O P E R AT I O N A L E X C E L L E N C E industry is changing and how the mindset towards technology and innovation is changing with it. One of the inhibitors, for lack of a better term, is that the industry is very much dictated by commodity cycles. Commodity cycles can make or break a mining organisation. To look at those major companies again – Glencore, Rio Tinto, BHP – these are companies that can survive the fluctuating commodity prices; it is the smaller-scale mining operators that feel the biggest impact. This, as Carr agrees, is something that does not help shake this historically sluggish profile of the industry. “Right now, the industry is in a static place after coming out of a downturn in commodity prices,” he says. “But it’s at the back of everyone’s minds that in the next five to ten years, there may very well be a cyclical downturn again. That means as an industry, we need to position ourselves to be the most cost effective and productive as we possibly can, and embracing technology where we can, will only help us do that.” This positive approach, afforded by that post commodity downturn feeling of security, shows an 32
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industry that is ready and prepared to embrace technology. The research by Inmarsat only goes to underline that. But the challenge now lies in the implementation, which actually presents an even bigger industry challenge. “Do you have the skills, the actual front-line delivery? The skills gap has always been a problem within mining. I think as we push towards IoT there is going to be a greater problem,” he says. “Not only are you trying to attract mining engineers and geologists and processing people who are highly skilled anyway – and it’s a very small pool of them – you are now asking those people to be mining engineers and more.” The industry is willing to embrace technology, and in this instance IoT, that much is clear. Having the capabilities to do that is a challenge that the industry will only continue to face for the foreseeable future and there is one inescapable hurdle – risk. In an industry that is driven and influenced by so many external and somewhat uncontrollable factors, be it commodity cycles or environmental disasters, it becomes easy to focus
on controlling the factors that you have complete control over, namely budgets and CAPEX/OPEX. This is no different when it comes to technology. There is risk involved, risk of the technology not working and in fact proving to be a costly mistake. “Mining’s funny in that regard,” jokes Carr. “In the pre-exploration stage, it’s very pro risk and very up for taking some chances in order to reap future rewards. There is a slip in attitudes when you get into an operational capacity and a budget capacity and a capex
ongoing capacity. A lot of operational companies don’t reward that risk in the sense of not putting the money out there to try, and then if they fail, learning from that failure. Mining is very much: ‘If we try it, it must succeed.’” Carr believes that the pro-risk mindset that gets lost after the industry moves beyond that exploration stage needs to return in order for it to truly open up the possibilities that technology brings with it. “It’s okay to innovate and it’s okay to fail, it’s learning from that failure that’s key. This is what Google and Apple
“ W E ARE DOING SOME INCREDIBLY EXCITING THINGS WITH THESE OTHER SECTORS AND THERE IS A DIRECT APPLICABILITY INTO THE MINING INDUSTRY” – JOE CARR, DIRECTOR OF MINING, INMARSAT ENTERPRISE 33
O P E R AT I O N A L E X C E L L E N C E and Microsoft do, and just look at how those companies succeed,” he says. This anti-risk mindset is not the defining component of the entire industry. There are more and more companies, junior right through to mid-tier mining companies, taking on more technology, embracing innovation and truly taking the plunge and reaping those rewards. This is exemplified by Inmarsat using its successful working with multiple industries, taking the lessons it has learned from success in the military and maritime sectors and looking at how it can apply
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and replicate this technological success in the mining industry. Carr is keen to stress that there is high value in recognising synergies between industries, rather than looking to create something bespoke each and every time. “That’s where I think that viewpoint in mining has now changed,” he says. “Mining companies are looking at other industries and other players and saying, ‘What can we learn? Where can we take in that information?’ We are doing some incredibly exciting things with these other sectors and there is a direct
“ B ILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS HAVE BEEN SPENT IN DEVELOPING THAT KEY TECHNOLOGY AND ITS STARTED TO PIVOT OUT TO THE SMALLER MINING COMPANIES AND AT DIFFERENT OPERATIONS” – JOE CARR, DIRECTOR OF MINING, INMARSAT ENTERPRISE applicability into the mining industry.” The mining industry is still a relatively new avenue for Inmarsat. While the company has been actively working with mining organisations for a number of years, Carr firmly believes there is still a lot of opportunity to push the industry further. This is reflected in the way that it forms, develops and more importantly maintains relationships with key organisations in the mining industry. “Everything we do, our focus is 100% on customer value, and that’s something that technology solutions providers must consider in this industry,” says Carr. “It either has to be a safety value, it has to be a production value, or
it has to be that we make the use of our technology is so seamless that the company says, ‘this is the way forward for us.’ If it doesn’t meet one of those three criteria within mining, generally, when we’re working with the mining companies, then it’s not going to work out.” If there is one thing that is certain, through the research that Inmarsat has conducted to the technology practices that we are beginning to see across those major mining players, it’s that mining is changing and embracing technology. It is, and may forever remain, a lagging industry when compared to the rapid pace in which other sectors innovate and evolve, but make no mistake it is innovating and evolving. “I think where the industry’s going to go in the next five to 10 years is taking lessons from that learning. They’ve spent a lot of money. Billions and billions of dollars have been spent in developing that key technology and its started to pivot out to the smaller mining companies and at different operations,” says Carr. “As an industry, I firmly believe we’re moving towards an age of taking bigger risks to reap greater rewards.” 35
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HELPING MINERS TO ‘DE-RISK’
ACTIMIZE WAS FOUNDED IN THE LATE NINETIES AS A MONITORING SPECIALIST REVIEWING TRANSACTIONS AT BANKS AND ARMING THEM WITH THE TOOLS TO FIGHT FINANCIAL CRIME. WE SPOKE WITH MICAH WILLBRAND, ITS GLOBAL DIRECTOR ABC (ANTI-BRIBERY & CORRUPTION), ABOUT HOW IT THE COMPANY EXPANDING ITS OFFERING TO SUPPORT THE NEEDS OF THE MINING INDUSTRY Writ ten by DAN BRIGHTMORE
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y & C S R “OVER THE PAST 20 years, through a series of acquisitions, and being acquired by Nice, Actmize has expanded its portfolio to four primary lines of business,” explains Micah Willbrand, Global Director ABC (AntiBribery & Corruption). Actimize now employs over 1,000 people worldwide and is well-placed to extend its offering into the mining industry. Willbrand says the catalyst for this expansion came about two years ago at the height of the FIFA corruption scandal. “We have a very strong transaction monitoring heritage using analytics and machine learning,” he explains. “What the FIFA debacle showed, and what our banking partners were telling us, was that a lot of the banks were going to get fined for processing FIFA bribes. The banks were saying: ‘These are rich people sending millions of dollars to buy a yacht, how are we supposed to know?’ You start to get into the customer experience, what’s over-reaching and what’s not, because the banks are very sensitive about continuing a policing role.” Willbrand realised there was a way Actimize could help the corporate 38
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“ IN THE MINING INDUSTRY WE’VE LEARNED ABOUT THE NUANCE OF HOW BRIBES ARE PUSHED THROUGH AND HIDDEN WITHIN VARIOUS SYSTEMS” – Micah Willbrand, Global Director ABC (Anti-Bribery & Corruption), Actimize
world detect potential illegal payments before they even reached the banks, and so adapted its monitoring to look at ERP systems which contain all the financial transactions for corporates. “We looked at the market and how various industries were approaching this problem and examined the extractors – oil, gas, mining – who have a really high exposure to bribery and corruption proceeds. A lot of the STPA
regulations in the US are oriented to those industries. To help apply this from our standpoint, it starts with activity such as companies bidding on resource areas to drill for minerals in.” Willbrand explains that a lot of mining companies hire third party sales agents to represent them in various countries. “An Australian company may be bidding on a project in Ghana, but if you don’t yet have
a presence there you hire someone local to bid on that company and give them a commission fee. Normally that might be 5% of the contract value but you may have a situation where the agent says he can make sure you get the contract for 9%. That 4% extra is the bribe because he’s working with someone on the inside. That’s the type of activity we’re looking to detect. There are various 39
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y & C S R other schemes, but that’s the most prominent, generating up to 80% of the fines handed out worldwide. “Anti-Money Laundering offers a suite of products to help financial institutions detect potential money laundering, with everything from basic watchlist screening and PEP (Politically Exposed Persons) screening, looking for high risk individuals, to customer onboarding and credit risk grading. With fraud, we look at everything from deposits to credit card bust-out fraud and realtime analysis – again from the angle of looking at financial institutions. Through Financial Market Compliance we monitor broker/dealers and insider trading by doing comms and trading surveillance, looking for potential rogue activity from traders. This all comes together over our Enterprise Risk Case Management System which consolidates these alerts. We have a strong workflow so if one of our tools does find nefarious activity, it can route it to our investigators and give them the ability to file an immediate report with a government agency.” Nice Actimize has worked with former criminals who gave bribes in 40
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order to learn how they did it, which helps with the development of the analytics tools it can offer. “In the mining industry we’ve learned about the nuance of how bribes are pushed through and hidden within various systems,” reveals Willbrand. “We’re not just doing simple payments here. There are many factors relating to your position and behavioural context.” By examining travel data, Actimize found that the internal sales agent dealing with the third-party agent was, more often than not, complicit with company funds. Businesses that need a reality check on how safe its processes are can benefit from the Actimize solution. “You start to see how the behaviour of employees and suppliers can be related,” adds Willbrand. “Bribery and corruption is like a cancer within a business and mining is no different, it grows if it’s left to evolve. It’s a board level concern and as such we’ve had a lot of interest from the industry and believe we have a proactive and informed tool to root it out and expunge it from any organisation.” As a cloud-based service, Actimize carries the advantage of being built into ERP systems, which Willbrand
“ NOW WE’RE TALKING ABOUT PROACTIVELY COMING FORWARD AND REPORTING THIS ACTIVITY TO THE GOVERNMENT WITHOUT THEM EVEN ASKING, WHICH IS A RISK THAT COMPANIES NEED TO BE COMFORTABLE WITH” – Micah Willbrand, Global Director ABC (Anti-Bribery & Corruption), Actimize
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believes is a real value add allowing it to go into procurement, accounts payable, accounts receivable and into the heart of the business in the general ledger. These ERP systems vary from company to company, where they may have up to 80 localised ERP systems, an SAP or a JD Edwards. “The cloud solution enables us to operate in multiple regions and having it hosted throughout the world it brings all of that ERP data together,”
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says Willbrand. “With the machine learning and AI that we employ, we can detect overpayment schemes. We watch so you don’t have to. We have 20 years of experience working with former criminals and learning about how they do what they do, so that machine learning can adapt very quickly to new ways of processing nefarious payments. Instead of an overpayment to an agent, maybe they move to a bonus structure where
the bonus is the bribe. The AI can pick up that unusual activity coming through the system a lot quicker than a human can,” he confirms. Though it’s a new concept for the industry to embrace, Willbrand says the feedback has been positive. “Most of mining’s detection has been focused on whistleblowing around travel and expense policy. If you’re talking to a chief ethics officer or compliance professional, this is
what they’ve been looking for, but there is education to be done in the wider realms of these organisations to get them to buy in,” he concedes. “We are getting internal champions at these companies, but there is learning required to move forward.” However, Willbrand admits the challenges around whether companies should be proactive still endure. “There may be an element of, do we actually want to do this?
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The modus operandi has normally been, stick your head in the sand and hope it doesn’t bite you. Now we’re talking about proactively coming forward and reporting this activity to the government without them even asking, which is a risk that companies need to be comfortable with, so we are prepared to manage the politics that go with that.” It’s one of the reasons Actimize broadened its solution beyond 44
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monitoring to include advanced whistleblowing capabilities. “We found these programmes are not run well from a case management perspective. A lot of it’s done on share points and via email,” notes Willbrand. “We can create dedicated workflows that allow for anonymous whistleblowing, not only for bribery and corruption but health and safety, which is hugely important in the mining industry. We’ve seen an uptake in interest
“ W E CAN CREATE DEDICATED WORKFLOWS THAT ALLOW FOR ANONYMOUS WHISTLEBLOWING, NOT ONLY FOR BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION, BUT HEALTH AND SAFETY, WHICH IS HUGELY IMPORTANT IN THE MINING INDUSTRY” – Micah Willbrand, Global Director ABC (Anti-Bribery & Corruption), Actimize in these systems becoming more formal, starting with small projects.” Those projects began with a beta launch in July 2017 when Willbrand realised that, as well as providing ABC, there was a value add with an ROI point around the fraud and waste element which highlights the abuse of travel and expense policies, and could allow companies to save up to 15% on their expense budgets. Looking ahead, Willbrand is
targeting more analytics with better tools for detection. “Our rules and known methodologies are one area, but expanding that bank along with our business intelligence is key. How do you report up to your CEO? How do companies manage risk in this area? We’ll be looking to provide more business intel tools to help them run reports efficiently across their entire ABC solution, encompassing all mitigation strategies.” He concludes: “To educate the mining industry is key. We’ll be doing more work around M&A as there is a lot of divestment, acquisitions and consolidation activity in the industry right now. When you’re acquiring a company, you’re taking on their bribery and corruption risk – that’s a big area for concern. We’ll be developing tools to help companies de-risk when doing divestments by creating a framework to support assurances about the risk they carry going forward. Or, if they are looking to acquire, we can help them work with that company in a transparent way so they can see what their exposure is. You don’t want to pay £100mn for a company and end up with a £500mn STPA violation.” 45
TOP 10 DIAMOND MINES
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Mining Global looks at the top ten diamond mines in the world, based on their total carat output annually Writ ten by OLIVIA M INNOCK
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Diamonds are universally considered a very valuable commodity – that’s why diamond mines and the companies who own them are constantly working to uncover and sell them to diamond distributors all around the globe. Let’s take a look at the top 10 diamond mines around the world based on their annual output, for the 2016 records on diamond production. BASED ON OUTPUT FIGURES FROM MINING.COM
THE DEBMARINE MINE NAMIBIA The Debmarine Mine is located in a very lucrative region of Namibia, off the coast in the Atlantic Ocean. This underwater mine produces over half of Namibia’s diamonds using specialised marine mining sea vessels. Procuring precious stones from so far below the surface of the ocean is a complex operation. This mine produced around 1.7mn carats in 2016, but attained a comparatively high value compared to other mines on the list. Owned by the De Beers Group, this venture in the underwater mining of diamonds is the only one of its kind in the world right now.
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09 THE MIR MINE RUSSIA Located in the Mirny, Sakha Republic, in the Siberian area of East Russia, this mine produces between about 2.2mn and 4mn carats per year since its operation started in 2009. For 2016, it was exactly 3.19mn carats. There are estimates that there are still 97.4mn carats of diamonds in reserve waiting to be uncovered. The Mir Mine is owned by the Alrosa Group, which is one of the largest diamond mining companies in the world. They have mines in many key regions around the globe including nine different countries and ten regions of Russia.
TOP 10 THE INTERNATIONAL MINE RUSSIA Also called the “Internatsionaly” in Russia by the Western Yakutia region, this mine has been in operation since 1999. Owned by the Alrosa Group, the mine had an output of 3.9mn carats with a worth of $829mn last year. There are estimates that the reserves are dwindling, though, and by 2022 there might not be any more diamonds to mine there.
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THE CATOCA MINE ANGOLA Angola, Africa hosts the fourth largest diamond mine by area in the world, the Catoca Mine. Located in the Lunda Sul Province of Angola, this mine is owned by a few different mining interests, but the Endiama Group, the state mining interest of Angola, holds the majority share. The group was established in 1981 and has the exclusive interest in the diamond mining industry of Angola. As of 2016, the mine produced about 6.5mn carats per year, with a reserve estimated at 130mn carats. 49
TOP 10 THE EKATI DIAMOND MINE
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DIAVIK MINE CANADA Near the North Slave region of the Northwest Territory in Canada is #9 on the list, the Diavik Mine. With an annual output of around 7mn carats, this mine is jointly owned by two corporations. 40% is owned by the Dominion Diamond Corporation, while 60% is owned by the Rio Tinto Group, which is responsible for actually operating the mine, with diamonds being only part of its operation. Rio Tinto also mines copper, iron ore and certain minerals. It has an estimate of 46mn diamonds in reserves to look forward to mining in the future. 50
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CANADA The Ekati Diamond Mine, the name of which means “fat lake”, is Canada’s first surface and underground diamond mine. They are located in a pretty desolate area about 300km away from Yellowknife, which is part of the Northwest territory. Their annual production is estimated to be around 7.5mn carats. They are owned by the Dominion Diamond Corporation and estimates that their most profitable mine potentially has about 105.4mn carats in reserves of this mining location. To see what this important mine looks like, you can check out this video here which gives a tour of their operation.
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04 THE BOTUOBINSKAYA MINE RUSSIA The Botubinskaya Mine is actually part of what is now considered the Nyurba Mining and Processing Division of the Alrosa Group. This mine is located in the Nakyn ore field. This is one of the newest mines to be utilised, only producing diamonds since 2015. Currently, the mine is on target to produce 7.5mn carats per year with a reserve estimated at 69.3mn. Since it’s so new, this location is expected to produce rare diamonds for the next 30 years.
ORAPA DIAMOND MINE BOTSWANA One of the two primary mines in Botswana owned by the De Beers Group and the Botswana Government, in a partnership known as the Debswana Partnership, is the Orapa Diamond Mine. Producing an estimated 7.9mn carats last year, this mine is actually the world’s largest in area for an open pit mine. The reserves there are estimated at 85.7mn carats worth of diamonds making it a huge focus of the government for their gross national product.
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TOP 10 JUBILEE MINE RUSSIA This mine is also known as the “Yubileinaya” and is located in Russia’s Yakutia region. Also owned by the Alrosa Group, it has continued to be a top producer since its opening. The mine produced a tremendous 9.2mn carats in 2016, with an estimated value of $1,431mn. This mine has been an open pit operation since 1989 with reserves estimated at 125mn carats.
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01 JWANENG MINE BOTSWANA The largest mine on the list, coming top not only in terms of production but also in value, is the Jwaneng Mine in Botswana. It produced a staggering 11.9mn carats last year, with reserves estimated at 149mn carats. This mine is located in Southern Botswana near Gaborone. Owned and operated by Debswana, which is a partnership of the De Beers Group and the Botswana Government, it’s going to be highly profitable for years to come for both of these interested parties. 53
E V E N T S & A S S O C I AT I O N S
Events Mining Global looks at the key industry events for this calendar year Writ te n by STUART H O DG E
The mining industry never stands still and it’s always good to keep abreast of all of the latest industrial and technological advances which can give you an edge over the competition. With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of the main events from across some of the key global regions which will be worth attending this year.
Mining Today 2018 Hyderabad, India 14–17 February
With a theme of ‘Mining: Vision – 2040’ looking at technology, equipment, machinery, policy and overseas the event will focus on the Indian mining industry with discussions on key trends, developments, challenges, opportunities and future prospects. A glitterati of stakeholders is expected to attend, including government officials, industry technology providers, endusers and logistics providers amongst others will engage in the hope of discovering investment opportunities or embarking on joint ventures, or to further research and development.. www.meaiminingtoday.com 56
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E V E N T S & A S S O C I AT I O N S Mining Investment South America Buenos Aires, Argentina 15–16 February
Mining Investment South America describes itself as the foremost South American forum for the global mining community, and similar to the West African event listed above, is a hub for the region’s key stakeholders and decision makers to gather, with over 350 of them expected from around 20 countries. Attendees are encouraged to take advantage of “three days of partnering, networking and business matching” as they seek to build new business partnerships. www.mininginvestmentsouthamerica.com
SME 2018 Annual Conference & Expo Minneapolis, USA 25–28 February
Some very informative short courses are available at the SME 2018 Annual Conference & Expo, which is expecting more than 6,000 industry professionals from around the world, who will gather to share ideas and best practices. Attendees are invited to benefit from cutting-edge research in more than 120 technical sessions and visit with industry insiders with an expansive marketplace of more than 550 exhibiting companies. www.smeannualconference.com 57
E V E N T S & A S S O C I AT I O N S PDAC 2018
Toronto, Canada 04–07 March PDAC 2018 (Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada) is an international convention, trade show and investors exchange where, reportedly, “the world’s mineral and finance industry meets”. Over 1,000 exhibitors, 3,800 investors and 24,000 attendees from 130 countries are expected at the annual convention which has grown considerably since it began some 86 years ago. Attendees from companies and organisations connected with mineral exploration and finance can attend technical sessions, short courses and networking events. www.pdac.ca/convention
Smart Materials Meet 2018 Dubai, United Arab Emirates 19–20 April
The Smart Materials Meet 2018, or more formally, the 5th World Congress on Smart and Emerging Materials, will see professionals, industrialists and students from research areas of materials science, physics, chemistry, nanotechnology, environmental science and biomedicine share their research experiences and indulge in interactive discussions and technical sessions. The event is designed to bring forth the most up to date information for the development of Smart Materials. Key aspects will include nanotechnology, chemistry, physics and marketing considerations, as they relate to what it will take to bring these materialaltering products to the highly regulated Western markets. https://smart.materialsconferences.com
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Mines and Money Asia Hong Kong, China 04–06 April
With an impressive history of generating business, deals and opportunities, Mines and Money is now Asia’s largest mining investment conference and exhibition. Now in its 11th year, this year’s event will bring together over 1,500 global mining leaders and 600 investors from 40 countries. Organisers say: “The programme will include over 150 speakers covering the favourites including gold, precious and base metals; as well as battery metals that are driving the future of energy; while also looking at the carbon to electron revolution taking place. “The two-and-a-half day exhibition will feature over 80 mining and energy companies who will be showcasing their latest exploration projects to prospective investors. “With majors looking at replenishing their resources, explorers once again raising money, and M&A deals on the rise, Mines and Money is still how and where deals get done.”. https://asia.minesandmoney.com 59
E V E N T S & A S S O C I AT I O N S Symposium 2018 on Mines and the Environment Rouyn-Noranda, Canada 17–20 June
The Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) are hosting the ‘Symposium 2018 on Mines and the Environment’, which is the result of a collaboration between the Research Institute on Mines and Environment (RIME) UQAT-Polytechnique, the Unité de Recherche et de Service en Technologie Minérale (URSTM), and many governing individuals and bodies and mining companies. The organisers say: “The objectives of the Symposium are to share recent knowledge and research developments and to discuss common practices to find solutions that reconcile profitability and environmental protection.” Registration for the event opens in February 2018.. http://rouyn-noranda2018.cim.org/en
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2018 Energy Conference Las Vegas, USA 16–17 July
At this event, researchers and experts from different areas of the mining landscape come together to give a global overview of the latest progress on renewable and non-renewable energy. The ‘Energy Workshop’ is a platform for academicians, researchers, engineers, as well as industrial professionals from all over the world to exhibit their research results and development activities in energy. The Energy Conference, meanwhile, will be focused on on new green technologies to establish clear, reliable and affordable renewable and non-renewable energy supplies. It also facilitates an opportunity to exchange information, experiences and best practices by making together adept, investors and other multi-stakeholders.Organisers say: “Deliberating the world, global warming suppression is a compelling matter. Coping with these issues, we are developing new projects involving renewable energy using innovative ideas in the renewable and non-renewable energy conference and by open presentation and discussion in the Energy Meeting about ongoing research.” www.meetingsint.com/conferences/energy
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E V E N T S & A S S O C I AT I O N S Mining the Territory 2018 Darwin, Australia 05–06 September
Going down under now to Australia for Mining the Territory, which is Northern Australia’s leading mining conference held annually in Darwin as a part of the Regional Resources Week. The event brings together key industry decision makers, opinion leaders and experts to provide you with up to date information on the current mining exploration, investment and development opportunities at the top end of the mineral industry. The event is noted as the leading educational and networking event in the region, and one of the most important in the continent of Oceania. www.ntresourcesweek.com.au/mining-the-territory-conference
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SEG 2018: Metals, Minerals, and Society Keystone, USA 22–25 September
The SEG 2018 Conference looks ahead at the metals and minerals required to meet the demands of society. This year’s event will feature some fascinating plenaries on breakthroughs in economic geology; integrating geology, geochemistry, and geophysics; integrating mineral and petroleum systems approaches to sedimentary basins; and the implications for society. The wider focus of the event, which also incorporates field trips, technical sessions and workshops is on the state of knowledge in important ore deposit types and the future of research, education, and exploration. www.seg2018.org 63
Helping Burundi take advantage of the global green technology revolution Written by Catherine Sturman Produced by Arron Rampling 65
CEO Martin Eales discusses plans to increase production of rare earths in a sustainable and responsible way
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he use of rare earth elements (REE) continues to power new and upcoming technologies. The utilisation of neodymium and praseodymium, particularly within the manufacturing of electric vehicles, generators and mobile technologies, for example, has been long-standing. Nonetheless, it has been noted that the REE market is set to rise at an annual growth rate of 8.5% from 2016 to 2026, providing significant opportunities for the mining sector. Established back in 2011, Rainbow Rare Earths has been behind the development of the high-grade Gakara Rare Earth Project in Burundi, with the ambition to become one of the leading rare earth producers outside of China. At present, China is the leader in the production of rare earths, with Lynas Corp as the only major non-Chinese supplier of the material, until now. “Every electric vehicle on average will begin to have twice as much
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rare earth content by weight than a traditional vehicle,” explains Rainbow Rare Earths CEO Martin Eales. “As the world increasingly switches to using electric vehicles, there will be more demand for rare earth materials. The minerals are also used in wind turbines, as well as consumer and tech products, such as smartphones and computers.” The Gakara Rare Earths Project Situated in East Africa, Burundi has a long mining history. The discovery of rare earth mineralisation back in the 1930s led to the mining of ore from the 1950s up to the 1970s, albeit in much lower quantities than Rainbow is now undertaking. “The rare earth magnet was invented in the 1980s, so you can imagine global demand was very different back then,” notes Eales. After commencing exploration work on the deposit in 2011, Rainbow obtained its 25-year mining licence
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Martin Eales, CEO of Rainbow Rare Earths
RAINBOW RARE EARTHS LIMITED
in 2015. Following its listing on the London Stock Exchange in January 2017, the company achieved its stated target of first production and first export shipment of high grade rare earths mineral concentrate at the end of last year. Rainbow’s short-term aim is to produce at a rate of 5,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) before the end of 2018, rising to 6,000tpa before the end of 2019. Rainbow’s Gakara project is widely recognised as one of the highest-grade REE mining projects worldwide, with an in-situ grade
of up to 67% rare earth oxides. Sustainable operations Working closely with the environmental ministry in Burundi has enabled Rainbow to reduce any potential impact on the surrounding areas to its operations. “It’s open quarry digging, effectively. Other than tons of soil being relocated, we’re not doing anything else which may affect the environment,” says Eales. “We use no acids or explosives, which could pollute the environment. “It’s such a high grade that
“We like to support the growth of the economy in Burundi and enable what is currently a small developing country gain access to the foreign currency that the mining sector can provide” CEO, Martin Eales 68
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the volumes we have to mine are consequently very low,” he continues. “Our processing from the mined ore is also not overly technical because it relies on gravity separation. “It’s heavier than the waste so it’s relatively easy to extract the rare earth ore. It’s separated using gravity, so the lighter material gets thrown off and the heavier material gets concentrated.” Building partnerships Strong existing infrastructural links such as the roads to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Mombasa, Kenya,
support Rainbow’s operations by enabling mineral concentrate to be trucked to port. Its processing plant, situated 20km away from its core mining locations in Kabezi, will enable Rainbow to process of up to five tons of run of mine ore per hour. Rainbow’s implementation of low-risk, low capex mining and processing has therefore increased the speed to first production and will support future sales, with the high grade eradicating the need for further chemical processing. A signed 10-year agreement with thyssenkrupp Raw
As at end November last year Rainbow directly employed 153 Burundian staff and 234 subcontractors, revitalising the local economy and creating opportunities for secondary businesses such as offering catering for the mining staff.
2011 The year that RRE was founded
2017 The year that RRE was listed on the London Stock Exchange
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Materials covers Rainbow’s ongoing distribution and marketing, and will see the business sell up to 10,000tpa of rare earth concentrate worldwide. All marketing and price negotiations will be undertaken by thyssenkrupp. Community spirit “We also like to support the growth of the economy in Burundi and enable what is currently a small developing country gain access to the foreign currency that the mining sector can provide,� says Eales.
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Adopting a robust corporate social responsibility programme, Rainbow is developing an allocated fund dedicated to community developments and local programmes. Examples of community projects already supported by Rainbow include the supply of essential building materials to local people, as well as establishing a catering cooperative, which provides food for local workers. Most importantly for both the company and Burundi, Rainbow guarantees that non-local hires
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Veins extracted at the Gakara project are mined manually from free-digging host rock with no explosives or hazardous chemistry required
are kept to a minimum. Currently employing well over 100 local staff, the business provides many local opportunities, and is contributing to the improvement of local infrastructure in order to educate, uplift and empower local citizens. “We hire local, if possible, and we do that hand-in-hand with the local administration to ensure that the local residents are first in line for employment, rather than coming from elsewhere in the country,” comments Eales. “We have only two full-time expat
staff in country, one of whom is a very experienced South African Health and Safety Manager. He has implemented a range of standard operating procedures and health and safety monitoring. We’ve trained all our workers to the fullest extent, and provide everything required to ensure workers are as safe as possible throughout all our operations.” Future growth Whilst Rainbow now looks to ramp up its production, it has sought to mitigate any potential short term financial risks
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“We hire local, if possible, and we do that handin-hand with the local administration to ensure that the local residents are first in line for employment� CEO, Martin Eales
Obsideo Consulting Mineral processing engineering, project management and construction specialist, Obsideo Consulting has recently expanded its business into Africa, where it has done several mineral processing studies and has successfully constructed and commissioned the Gakara Rare Earths processing plant in Burundi. Obsideo Consulting includes in its portfolio the supply of turn key and modular plant solutions. Project execution strategies are developed together with the mine owners in order to tailor the best strategy be it EPCM, EPC, BOOT or partnership models, depending on the client specific requirements.
www.obsideo-consulting.com info@obsideo-consulting.com 087 9800 551
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Rainbow became the first rare earths producer in Africa last year. In 2018 the company targets a run rate of 5,000 tpa with a plan to ramp up the production to a run rate of 6,000 tpa during 2019
by completing a further equity issue in early December 2017. “We’ve just done a fundraising of nearly $4mn,” adds Eales. The Company’s recent fundraising opens up the door for further acceleration of growth. The funds will enable Rainbow to expand its existing mining fleet to increase production, and will see the company look at other areas of exploration potential, with approximately $750,000 put aside for a maiden drilling campaign, alongside $1mn which will be
put towards the establishment costs of new mining areas. “It’s quite an exciting time and will support the increase of production through 2018 and into 2019. We’re also set to undertake our first drilling campaign on some very exciting anomalies highlighted by our recent airborne survey,” concludes Eales. “We see many, many years of operations in the area. Hopefully we’ll leave a good legacy, something that’s sustainable for the local people.”
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INVESTING IN BAUXITE MINING. INVESTING IN GUINEA’S FUTURE Written by Laura Mullan Produced by Richard Deane
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Embarking on a $1bn expansion of its fast-paced strict compliance bauxite mine in Guinea, the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée is helping to transform the West African country into a global mining giant
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he West African country of Guinea may seem small but scratch under its surface and this fast-emerging nation is set to become a frontrunner in the mining industry – and it’s all thanks to its abundant asset, bauxite. Sitting on top of about a third of the world’s total bauxite reserves, the small, yet-resource rich country of Guinea is the second largest provider and exporter of the ore in the world. With exports set to soar in comings years, Guinea is on track to continue on an upward trajectory and, by extracting bauxite from the heart of the country’s Boké region, Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG), is positioned to play a key role in this future. Currently operating open pit mines in Sangarédi, Bidikoum, Silidara and N’Dangara, Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée is 49% owned
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by the Guinean government and 51% owned by Halco Mining Inc., a consortium comprised of Alcoa, Rio Tinto, and Dadco Investments.
Accelerating production As the largest bauxite producing company in Guinea, and one of the largest bauxite producing companies in the world, CBG has gone from strength to strength since it was first founded in 1973. In the 1970s, the company’s first ship left the port of Kamsar with 19,000 tonnes of ore on board after a total loading time of 125 hours. Today, the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée has the ability to load 75,000 tonnes of bauxite on boats in less than 20 hours. Production hit 15mn tonnes for the first time back in 2013 – and the numbers are still rising. As such, the historic company is
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keen to maintain momentum. In order to meet the pressing demand for this valuable mineral, CBG has embarked on an ambitious project worth around $1bn that’s set to drastically expand its operations. By investing in its plant and port in Kamsar, the Guinean miner hopes to grow its production and export capacity in two phases: the first phase aimed to increase production capacity to 18.5mn tonnes per year as of last quarter 2017, followed by a second phase with an increased
‘Under the guidance of General Manager Souleymane Traore, CBG has redefined its strategy, balancing speed, compliance, sustainability and spending to lead an exemplary operation in Guinea’
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capacity of 25mn tonnes by 2022. Through the massive multi-phase expansion project, CBG intends to increase the production capacity of its railway, power plant, and port treatment plant, to boost revenues and enhance the mine’s efficiency. Souleymane Traore, Director General at CBG, is optimistic about the future of the Guinean firm. “CBG is engaged in a great phased expansion project that will, at the end of the project, double the production capacity of the company,” he says. “The first phase of the project is currently in its construction phase and is close to completion. “What separates us from others companies operating in Guinea is our history,” he adds. “We are the only ones in Guinea operating for more than 40 years. It shows the solidity of our business model. Another thing which distinguishes us is our fundamental principles: ensuring the security of our operations and our workers; controlling our environmental impact; the ethic and integrity we show in our work; the respect and equality in our team; and the satisfaction of our customers.”
Building Partnerships to Achieve New Production Records TAKRAF is proud to be an important partner to Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG) and assist them with their Expansion Project; providing specialized equipment and technologies to increase the production and export of bauxite according to CBG’s strategic goals. German engineering, quality products and a dedicated and competent team all result in a state-of-the-art materials handling system, covering the entire process from unloading railcars to the loading of ships. TAKRAF provides efficiency and reliability in plant operation. We are pleased that our equipment and services can contribute to CBG’s success story, and lead the way for Guinea’s future success.
TAKRAF GmbH Torgauer Straße 336 04347 Leipzig, Germany takraf.sales@tenova.com www.takraf.com
Tenova, a Techint Group company, is a worldwide partner for innovative, reliable and sustainable solutions in the mining and metals industries. www.tenova.com
ETUDES. CONTROLE. EXECUTION.
CLIENTS DE REFERENCE
• CBG (PROJET D’EXTENSION EN COURS)
tigplus@yahoo.fr Tel : +224 628 383 676 +224 628 292 869 LA COMPETENCE D’UNE JEUNE EQUIPE A VOTRE SERVICE POUR vos TRAVAUX DE MINES, ROUTES, BARRAGE HYDRO-ELECTRIQUES, DE PORTS et AEROPORTS.
• RIO TINTO SIMFER (2009-2016) • GAC/EGA (Projet d’Exportation de la Bauxite de Guinée, Afrique de l’Ouest.) • BUREAU VERITAS GUINEE • YALI GENIE CIVIL • AICHFEET
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Strict compliance Yet, although CBG is ambitiously trying to double its production capabilities and scale up, it isn’t going to compromise its values to do so. Under the guidance of Souleymane Traore, CBG has redefined its strategy, balancing speed, compliance, sustainability and spending to lead an exemplary operation in Guinea. By all accounts, health and safety is CBG’s top priority. Therefore, the mining firm is keen to ensure that the bauxite is extracted, treated, and shipped in the safest of conditions, and that it has “strict compliance” with the highest national and international practices. Furthermore, the company is eager to keep up-to-date with the latest industry innovation to remain ahead of the competition.
Bauxite is a vital Guinean export
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“Since its very creation, CBG has made its production processes better and better thanks to technological evolution,” says Traore. As one of its the region’s most prized resources, bauxite production is of strong economic importance to Guinea, accounting for roughly 20% of the country’s gross domestic product and 80% of its exports. Therefore, the mining giant’s expansion plan will not only create a lasting legacy for the company,
it will also create a positive future for the country at large.
Investing in Guinea’s future Throughout its 45-year history, the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée has continued to make a meaningful contribution to the region’s local economy. In fact, CBG is currently the single largest contributor of revenue to Guinea and this latest project expects to add further revenue
‘By balancing its vast expansion plan with extensive CSR policies, the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée has cemented itself as a definite ‘one to watch’ on the global mining stage’
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OUR EXPERTISES FOR YOUR PROJECTS IN AFRICA A major player in the construction and civil works sector in Africa, Sogea-Satom is active in over 20 countries through its network of subsidiaries and employs over 12,000 people.
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through additional tax payments. As well as this, the company has cemented itself as one of the key drivers of employment in the Boké region, currently standing as the largest employer in the country after the state. By upgrading its facilities, CBG hopes to hire an extra 1,300 employees during construction and over 230 permanent employees during operations. These are impressive statistics, but beyond the figures, it is clear that CBG is having a profound and meaningful impact on the lives of everyday people in Guinea’s mining communities. Indeed, since 2010, the mining giant has partnered with local communities to help promote the creation, training, and supervision of very small enterprises (VSEs), especially if these are in areas such as sanitation, public works, rehabilitation, and reforestation. To date, this policy has created a dozen VSEs in the Sangaredi and Kamsar region. In doing so it has helped to employ over 950 people and, perhaps more importantly, it has assisted in creating social security and peace in the area.
2400
COLLABORATORS
5000
ADDITIONAL SUBCONTRACTORS
2930 km2
CBG CONCESSION AREA EXTENDING FROM SANGARÉDI TO GAOUNAI THROUGH THE COGON AND TOMINE RIVER REGIONS
135 km
RAILWAYS CONNECT THE SANGAREDI MINE TO THE KAMSAR TREATMENT PLANT
Community-driven approach As a local Guinean miner, the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée takes an authentic, grounded approach to corporate responsibility. It prides itself on developing lasting relationships with communities based on mutual trust, transparency, active partnerships and commitments. As a result, the company makes sure that its community investments are genuinely aligned with the priorities of local people and collectives, with projects often focused on key issues
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The multiphase project hopes to increase production in two phases: the first phase aimed to increase production capacity to 18.5mn tonnes per year as of December 2017; followed by a second phase with an increased capacity of 22.5mn tons by 2022
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such as health, education, and basic infrastructure. In June 2017, CBG’s Board of Directors decided to increase its community development budget from about $600,000 per year to $2.5mn. With this in mind, the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CECI, an international organisation that combats poverty and exclusion through sustainable development projects. Through this partnership, the company has worked diligently to finance projects that will help local communities generate income and develop sustainably. One such health project that has seen visible results is the company’s commitment to counter the spread of malaria, a high risk to Guinean families throughout the year. The repercussions of the mosquito-transmitted disease are painfully felt by local communities
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and so, to combat this, the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée launched a malaria control programme in 2016 in collaboration with the National Program for the Fight Against Malaria. Helping the employees and communities which are so intertwined with the mining operation, CBG’s programme focuses on three main pillars: the distribution of mosquito nets, intradomiciliary spraying, and community awareness courses about the disease’s symptoms. Through such projects, the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée not only positions itself as an impressive mining leader, it also showcases its impressive moral code, ethical standards and commitment to the local people. This ethical stance extends not only to the country’s people, but to Guinea’s local environment and habitats.
By upgrading its facilities, CBG hopes to hire an extra 1,300 employees during construction and over 230 permanent employees during operations
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Protecting biodiversity Sustainability sits at the heart of CBG’s vision for its mining operations and, like many in the mining industry today, Traore and his team are keen to balance its mammoth expansion programme with the need to preserve the nation’s environmental integrity and biodiversity. To this end, CBG has created a pioneering Biodiversity Management System to oversee and manage the project’s biodiversity impact. This crucial programme outlines the company’s key environmental strategies and these include: creating a buffer zone around the habitats of critically endangered and endangered species; offsetting any impact to the country’s endangered chimpanzee habitat; reducing noise pollution by using surface mining techniques and avoiding dredging during species’ breeding season. With its burgeoning operations and proactive sense of social responsibility, the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée is, by all means, a mammoth operation. The day-to-day running of CBG is a challenging feat but thanks to the company’s committed
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workforce and adept management under Traore, it has established itself as a major player in the mining sector.
Cooperating with industry leaders The team at CBG is a tight knit one but this sense of togetherness hasn’t been closed off to CBG and its employees – it’s a philosophy that is ingrained in its relationships with the mine’s partners and suppliers. Whether its gaining industry knowledge from partners enhancing the railway system like Canarail Consultants Inc, or handling materials thanks to equipment from Takraf, Traore and his team understand that the company’s partnerships are an integral component of its success. CBG’s operations are, by all means, on a global scale. Therefore, by gaining only the best expertise from industry partners like TIG+, Vinci Construction, Tecnasol, MTN Business Guinea Conakry, Transco and Aden Services, CBG has continued to evolve over its 45-year history and has kept up-todate with the latest industry know-how. Unquestionably, the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée is helping
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C O M PA G N I E D E S B A U X I T E S D E G U I N E E
to reinvigorate the African country’s natural resources sector, signing a succession of impressive contracts along the way.
Transforming the sector Extending across Guinea’s mining heartland of Boké, CBG’s $1bn expansion plan has yielded promising results so far. It seems that, as the world’s biggest bauxite exporter, CBG will continue to have a pivotal role to play in both the West African
country’s future and, indeed, the future of the aluminium industry. Forming one of the crucial minerals needed for aluminium production, Guinea’s bauxite reserves are an indispensable asset for the aeronautic, automotive, building and packaging sectors, and beyond. Therefore, Guinea’s role on the world mining stage cannot be overlooked. Yet, although Guinea ranks first in the world for its bauxite reserves, the potential of this in-demand resource
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has not been fully revealed. The West African country ranks sixth in the world for its extraction of high-grade bauxite but, through its expansion plan, the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée hopes to change that – and it seems it’s well on its way. Guinea’s bauxite reserves are amongst the highest quality worldwide, making it a valuable resource in the global market. By balancing its growth with extensive CSR policies, CBG has cemented itself as a definite ‘one to watch’ on the global mining stage.
In the 1970s, the company’s first ship left the port of Kamsar with 19,000 tonnes of ore on board after a total loading time of 125 hours. Today, the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée has the ability to load 75,000 tons of bauxite on boats in less than 20 hours
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TriStar Gold Transforming discoveries into world-class mining assets Written by Dale Benton Produced by Richard Deane
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RISTAR GOLD IS a mineral exploration
company listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange that focuses on advancing mining projects from exploration through to production. Through its flagship asset, the Castelo de Sonhos gold project, the company currently has its sights set firmly on precious metals deposits in the Americas that have the potential to become globally significant producing mines. Castelo de Sonhos, located in the southwestern Para state in Brazil, has the potential to be just that. But the deposit itself was very nearly overlooked. “We looked at the company’s technical reports and skimmed through it and came to the conclusion that actually, this is only a small deposit with limited potential,” says Nick Appleyard, President and CEO of TriStar Gold. “It was only when another member of our executive board took a look at it and realised we’d got it wrong.” The company realised the need to refocus the story so they boldly published the exploration target range in March of 2016, using a combination of grass roots geology, oil industry modeling technology and advanced mathematical modeling. “We really switched from that small mine mentality to looking at a big production scenario and the project meets our mantra of trying to produce 150,000 ounces of gold a year over the next 10 years,” says Appleyard. “It became a process then really of understanding the geology better than the previous management 96
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REALISING THE POTENTIAL More than 30 years of mining and exploration projects across all commodities and all stages of project development.
CSA Global is a proud partner of the TriStar Gold; Castelo de Sonhos Project. csaglobal.com
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“ W HEN YOU LOOK AT IT, WHAT WE’VE DONE IS WE RAISED $11MN, COMPLETED TWO DRILLING CAMPAIGNS AND TAKEN THE RESOURCE FROM 280,000 OUNCES TO MORE THAN 1.5MN”
which in turn means we can explain that geology to the market and back it up with a mine model that works.” Appleyard entered TriStar Gold back in December 2015 with his management team, a talented group of individuals with significant experience in resource estimation, engineering, law, financial expertise and the establishing successful mines all over the world. The new management team’s first – Nick Appleyard, President and task was to look at this deposit, the CEO of TriStar Gold Castelo de Sonhos gold project, and invested it into an initial drilling and retell the story behind it. This programme. Fast forward again to started with the publishing of a 2017, following the raising of further voluntary technical report to really $5mn, TriStar has already made a showcase the geology of the deposit significant development to what was and highlight that in actual fact, already a notably sized deposit. this is a deposit that could become “When you look at it, what we’ve something hugely significant. done is we raised $11mn, completed “Our report confirmed the geology two drilling campaigns and taken the of the deposit and the strong model resource from 280,000 ounces to more we could build and work with,” than 1.5mn,” says Appleyard. The Appleyard says. “We continued to resource has been verified through tell the story based on the technical an independent resource estimation report, and we also authored and by CSA Global in September 2017. presented a peer reviewed paper, so “To have done that in two years this wasn’t just company arm-waving.” is an amazing amount of work Throughout the course of the next and we can be very proud of 12 months, TriStar raised $4.3mn w w w. m i n i n g g l o b a l . c o m
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“ STAKEHOLDERS, PEOPLE INSIDE THE COMPANY, THEY WEREN’T TOO SURE AS TO WHETHER WE SHOULD MOVE AWAY FROM OUR CORE DRILLING TO UTILISING THESE INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS.” – Nick Appleyard, President and CEO of TriStar Gold
what we’ve achieved to date.” No success story is ever truly achieved without hurdles and challenges along the way and despite the clear and present success that Appleyard and TriStar have achieved, he admits that the company’s challenges are not unique to TriStar but challenges that most junior mining companies face. “It’s hard to raise money in the junior mining space,” concedes 100
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Appleyard. “It’s particularly difficult when we are basing it on a concept and a potential model.” This is where Appleyard and TriStar can boast about the talented leadership team at its disposal as the company found that when attracting investors, while there was a focus on financial return, the significance of the team itself and investing in the people of TriStar cannot be understated. “With investors it’s quite rare for
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them to be as technically minded as the operating team or our board,” he says. “But over time we started attracting investors who bought into our team and our expertise, who we could sit down with and talk technical details. They understood what we were trying to do and how we were going to do it and that’s down to our team.” Throughout this two-year period, TriStar has been able to work with
and test innovative technologies, from drilling techniques to data capture. In an industry that is often labelled as lagging behind others on the technology and innovation front, TriStar can be proud. This is where TriStar has established key partnerships in order to enable this innovative approach to the Castelo de Sonhos gold project. One such technology has been the use of an optical televiewer that w w w. m i n i n g g l o b a l . c o m
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“ MINING HAS OFTEN BEEN THE SAME FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS, SO WHY CHANGE IT? I DO SEE THAT THERE IS SOME RESISTANCE STILL, BUT I THINK THE INDUSTRY NEEDS PLAYERS LIKE TRISTAR TO GO OUT THERE, TAKE THOSE RISKS, USE TECHNOLOGIES AND PROVE THAT THEY CAN BE SUCCESSFUL” – Nick Appleyard, President and CEO of TriStar Gold
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captures a high definition image of the inside of a drill hole. This, Appleyard states, allows for a much more accurate measurement tool while using cost effective RC drilling. “We can measure every measurable feature in that drill hole,” says Appleyard. “It’s incredibly more effective and useful than simply taking readings from a traditional core.” For this, TriStar partnered with DGI Geoscience, global leader in data collection, processing, interpretation and integration. DGI provides multidisciplinary analysis to maximise the investment in drilling. But it’s not only DGI that provides data with a purpose, TriStar also works closely with ALS Global to obtain better estimations of its gold grade samples. For Appleyard, the results speak for themselves. “It allows us to reduce our costs and complete our analysis much faster, which is massive for a mining company,” he says. “We’re getting data but it’s better data.” This approach to technology is something that Appleyard believes is becoming more and more common across the global sector. With
technology, there comes risk and the mining industry has been known to be a fairly risk-averse industry. But Appleyard believes that companies like TriStar that are willing to take a risk and to be ambitious and open to the use of technology can be looked upon as examples of where taking that risk can reap huge rewards. This is not to say that Appleyard himself has not felt the pressure that comes from that risk averse mindset. “Of course, there was pressure,” he says. “Stakeholders, people inside the company, they weren’t too sure as to whether we should move away from our core drilling to utilising these innovative technological solutions.” “Mining has operated the same way for the last 20 years, so why change it? I do see that there is some resistance still, but I think the industry needs players like TriStar to go out there, take those risks, use technologies and prove that they can be successful as we have done with Castelo de Sonhos. That’s the true message that I feel people should take away from this.” In just two short years, TriStar has achieved huge successes with Castelo de Sonhos. The very strength w w w. m i n i n g g l o b a l . c o m
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of TriStar is moving significant discoveries through to becoming significant mines. With Castelo de Sonhos, TriStar is well on its way. The next step for the company is to find a mine operator that wants to add it to its portfolio. Beyond this, the company is prepared to take Castelo into production as the mine operator should it choose to do so, but Appleyard remains true to the company’s model of finding new projects. “We are always looking, always discussing with people about what’s new,” he says. “Getting it right with Castelo is the first step. We need to unlock the value in this exceptional deposit, allowing us to show great returns to our shareholders and giving us a stronger currency for acquiring the next deposit. “Because there’s not many that are just sitting around of this quality, and at the price we got this one.”
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HOW SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC’S DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
IS POWERING THE MINES OF THE FUTURE Rob Moffitt, Schneider Electric’s President – Mining, Minerals & Metals Segment – reveals how the business is leading the digital transformation of energy management and automation Written by Niki Waldegrave Produced by Bryan Giles
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tudies indicate that the world needs to cut CO2 emissions by 50% by 2050 to avoid drastic consequences from climate change. However, due to population growth and increased urbanisation, at the same time, the world will require twice the amount of energy as today. To meet that challenge, Schneider Electric is developing intelligent energy management solutions to help businesses and consumers monitor and control energy usage efficiently. The global energy management, automation and industrial software specialist has 144,000 employees in
more than 100 countries and creates products and solutions to ensure ‘Life is On’ by helping its customers manage their energy and processes in ways that are safe, connected, reliable, efficient and sustainable. Its integrated solutions combine energy management, automation and software through EcoStruxure™, its Internet of Things (IoT) enabled, open and interoperable architecture. EcoStruxure™ leverages the latest advancements in digital technologies, such as cyber security, analytics, cloud, and mobility to deliver real-time control and operational efficiency, and
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Schneider Electric’s Mining, Minerals & Metals Segment President, Rob Moffitt, reveals how the company is leveraging solutions from its primary domains of expertise – IT, buildings, industry and infrastructure, and utilities – to help companies in the mining sector achieve new levels of efficiency and productivity. “We see enormous potential in terms of plans for the year ahead and growth,” he says. “From a product and solution perspective, we are a leader in industrial software, power management,
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which includes medium voltage, low voltage and secure power, and in industrial automation and control. “In 2018, we see a return to favourable conditions, in which we expect to see a cyclical upturn and continuing recovery in mature economies, plus accelerated momentum in developing economies that will allow for growth in the segment. “Our focus is around two main areas – customers and technology. On the customer side, we want to expand our presence in certain
geographies and increase our partnerships with strategic customers. For technology, our focus will be to support and develop solutions based on digitalisation.” Enter EcoStruxure™ Schneider’s competitive advantage is its open EcoStruxure™ architecture, underpinned by an enviable combination of people and technology, and the segment team within the organisation dedicated to partnering with strategic customers to harness its potential. Moffitt explains how EcoStruxure™ is redefining automation and power connectivity, and adds an unprecedented layer of software applications and services to help companies improve shareholder value by increasing productivity, reducing costs and improving safety. And by bridging IT and OT, EcoStruxure™ lets customers maximise the value of data, which translates into actionable intelligence for better business decisions. “EcoStruxure™ is an open, interoperable, digital, and IoT-enabled
Rob Moffitt President – Mining, Minerals & Metals Segment
Rob Moffitt, who joined Schneider Electric in 2016 as President of the Global Mining, Minerals & Metals segment, has had a career spanning 32 years in the global mining industry. He started his career in deep level gold mining before working with various multi-national organisations supplying a range of innovative products, technologies, services and solutions into the industry. Moffitt has formal qualifications in Metalliferous Mining and a MBA from Henley Business College in the UK. He is a Fellow at the Institute of Quarrying, Australia and was previously Chairman of the Institute of Quarrying South Africa, and has served on the boards of several companies.
SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC
Schneider Electric Global Family Leave
“We see enormous potential in terms of plans for the year ahead and growth” –Rob Moffitt, President – Mining, Minerals & Metals Segment system architecture that combines our broad range of solutions across connected products and edge control, and leverages them through our industry leading suite of industrial software, apps and analytics,” Moffitt says. “Few other companies in the world have such a complete portfolio of integrated products, and our main differentiation is to bring an open
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and integrated architecture from sensors to business applications that addresses the multitude of challenges our customers face each day. We go beyond applications focused solely on just process or asset performance.” Master of mining Another competitive advantage is Schneider’s dedicated segment approach, having built an entire
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organisation dedicated to mining, and investing significantly over the years to increase its competence in the industry from an application standpoint, helping it to solve its customers’ challenges. In fact, to that end it has developed specific expertise around process control, mineral processing, energy optimisation, and supply chain efficiency. Mining is facing significant challenges but the fundamentals are sound, and Moffitt says Schneider expects increased demand for mined raw materials will be driven by population growth as well as rapid and increasing urbanisation. “The resources industry is constantly challenged by market volatility, grade decline, regulations,
social license, skills gaps and workforce demographics,” he says. “This puts a premium on operational and business efficiency – something we’re well-positioned to help our customers with. “Of all the trends impacting the industry, none will be as critical as digitalisation. It will impact every aspect of the industry operation and provide the greatest potential for improving business and operational efficiency.” He points out one of the main challenges has always been to make real-time decisions based on information that is spread across various databases and applications. With that in mind, the company, which devotes 5% of sales to
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‘SCHNEIDER WAS RANKED AS ONE OF THE GLOBAL 100 MOST SUSTAINABLE CORPORATIONS IN THE WORLD FOR 2016, COMING 12TH OVERALL AND FIRST IN ITS GLOBAL INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION STANDARD INDUSTRY’ 112
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research and development, believes the technology that has provided the most value to its customers has been around the integration of mining operations from ‘resource to market’ or as it is sometimes expressed, from ‘pit to port’. “It’s one of the industry’s most challenging problems,” explains Moffitt, “and AMPLA, our integrated mining operations software, has become somewhat of the de facto standard for this type of integrated solution. “It’s a modular software suite with specific mining functionality that supports mine operations from extraction and processing, to blending and storage, all the way through to shipping logistics.” The software enables value chain visibility and optimisation by collecting data automatically from multiple plant and business systems or through manual data entry, and establishing a single trusted source of information which can be collaboratively used to drive efficiency, reduce cost and make better business decisions. “A case in point would be a recent
Jean-Pascal Tricoire CEO of Schneider Electric
implementation of Ampla across five mine sites at a major metal mining company. The system was used to monitor and capture real-time asset performance and condition data and to provide root-cause analysis when assets were being underutilised. Globally across all five mines they improved capacity by over 10%.”
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“We go beyond applications focused solely on just process or asset performance” –Rob Moffitt, President – Mining, Minerals & Metals Segment “Our resource to market integrated solution consolidates and manages data from multiple mine, plant and business systems,” he adds. “This enables customers to identify production issues, manage inventory and quality, track and management production and asset performance, understand costs, and analyse business KPIs. “As another example, one of the biggest iron ore miners in
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Australia uses it to optimise their port logistics by predicting how each entity in the supply chain will operate – from mine to plant to rail and port – and has improved supply chain efficiency by 20%.” Futureproof Remaining ahead of the curve is tough when it comes to market changes and advances in technology, especially in mining where change is constant, but
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Access to Energy: Our Ambition for Tomorrow
Moffitt cites open platforms, the IoT and digitalisation as good examples. “We also see significant turnover at the engineering and technical levels in the industry,” he explains, “meaning we sometimes need to fill that void with our own project engineering or remote asset monitoring services, for example. It also means we need to partner with our customers over the medium to long term and not simply just sell them things. “Now that the outlook has improved and mining operations are starting to make CAPEX investments again, they also need a workforce that can ramp up and become productive quickly, and much of our software and workforce enablement
solutions help them do that.” Training solutions made possible by virtual reality or maintenance troubleshooting tools that utilise augmented reality are examples of the industry looking for new technologies to transform the way it operates in the future. “To give another example, one of our customers in Canada has deployed our training and simulation solution at a groundwater treatment plant that had to meet critical environmental requirements, and was used to train new operators on how to prevent above-limit groundwater from being dumped into their outflow.” Moffitt says the only way to achieve this ‘future state’ is to develop them
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jointly with Schneider’s strategic customers and partners and work closely to understand their challenges and find new ways to solve them. There are going to be 50bn connected devices in 2020, and Schneider wants to help its customers succeed in their digital transformation and reap the rewards it can deliver in terms of energy, process, and business efficiency. “The rewards are significant for those willing to try,” he adds. “It’s been estimated that in the next five years, mining industry leaders will achieve their most significant improvements by embracing digital technologies like the IoT and advanced analytics that
can harness the power of big data.” Some reports indicate that digitisation could bring more than AU$470bn by 2025 in additional value to the mining, minerals and metals industries by means of productivity gains, cost reductions, and fuel and energy savings – but only if they are able to overcome some of the challenges. “One of the challenges is in making technologies available in ways that are easy to implement and leverage,” Moffitt adds, “and that brings us back to EcoStruxure™ once again, because it provides that common open architecture on which everything can be connected.
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