Consultants see room to grow in 2012
December 15 - 21, 2011
QUALITY control remains a major concern for many of the 17 international mining and engineering consulting industry leaders HighGrade quizzed about 2012 as they cast around in a muddy talent pool for new recruits while weighing up how best to maintain the integrity of their brand and expand in a fiercely competitive global market.
Lory leads SKM mining into new growth phase
December 15 - 21, 2011
PHIL Lory was there at the birth of SKM’s mining and metals business so it wasn’t a big surprise he was recently chosen to lead the group’s boom division, nearly 10 years later, into a new stage of maturation.
Consulting briefs: Itasca, Coffey, Xstract
February 1 - 7, 2012
WORK by a consulting firm for a leading gold miner is said to have produced an accurate simulation of localised rock damage and behaviour to aid new mine design models for South African’s deep gold mines.
Snowden eyes new growth phase
January 25 - 31, 2012
PROUD parents Phil and Viv Snowden are watching the consulting business they started in Perth, Snowden Mining Industry Consultants – now owned by ASX-listed Downer – turn 25 this year.
Change in the air
December 1 - 7, 2011
INCREASING pressure on mine operators to improve management of underground mine ventilation, heat and particulates, and fan and vent system power use, at a time when industry development of specialist skills is typically behind the demand curve, has convinced two leading consulting firms to join forces to offer a unique service in the Australasian market.
Shaping projects in a heated market
October 27 - November 2, 2011
THE newly appointed CEO of fast-growing Queensland-based management consulting firm Enthalpy, John Buffington, believes he’s arrived at the company at a particularly good time.
Timely entry for engineering group
October 13 - 19, 2011
CROWDS, what crowds? The UK-based WSP Group is the latest non-mining engineering firm to see Australia as a suitable entry point, despite the number of specialist firms already chasing the bumper crop of work available in the country.
Consulting briefs: Snowden, DRA, Ausenco
October 6 - 12, 2011
SNOWDEN’S annual mining photo exhibition has opened in Perth. More than 60 entries to the consulting firm’s sixth annual photo competition are on display at the city’s Central Park building.
Coffey sees social management role
September 15 - 21, 2011
RESOLVING any disconnect between shareholder and stakeholder interests in a sustainable way will no doubt remain a significant issue for ASX-listed resources companies looking to develop assets in emerging offshore jurisdictions.
Consulting briefs: SKM, Runge
September 8 - 14, 2011
ENGINEERING consulting firm Sinclair Knight Merz is searching for a new leader for its main operating division, Mining & Metals, following Santo Rizzuto’s ascension to the privately-owned company’s top job. As general manager of the division, Rizzuto has overseen several years of strong growth.
The fine grind on DTRs
August 4 - 10, 2011
THE Davis Tube Recovery test is vital in determining whether or not a magnetite project has got the goods but according to magnetite processing expert Kristine Edwards, it is just one part of understanding a magnetite project.
Runge refocuses
July 21 - 27, 2011
RUNGE made its debut into public life and then was hit by an unforgiving GFC. Now with a strong consulting business built post crisis, new managing director David Meldrum plans to get the mojo back into its technology side.
Beck to the future
July 21 - 27, 2011
BECK Engineering’s just had its busiest year and while it is back on the recruitment trail the small firm actually shrank in 2010-11, showing that Australia’s productivity disease isn’t omnipotent. What does seem to be catching on is the idea that technology has a far bigger role to play in unblocking mining bottlenecks than anyone imagined five years ago.
Consulting briefs: Runge, Xstract
July 21 - 27, 2011
AUSTRALIAN Securities Exchange-listed Runge has opened a new office in Toronto, Canada, run by experienced local mining engineer Don Arsenault. The move extends the operational footprint of Runge’s US-based subsidiary Pincock Allen & Holt, acquired in 2005.
Well connected
July 14 - 20, 2011
EFFECTIVE recruiting multiplies a mining consulting firm’s client exposure every time an experienced consultant walks in the door. But while deep relationships are the bedrock of most firms, it was a chance meeting that helped Brisbane-based Xstract Mining Consultants burst out of the blocks and ultimately join with one of Australia’s fastest growing engineering firms.
Golder targets coal
July 14 - 20, 2011
MINING and carbon taxes may come but the coal industry is here to stay, a sentiment backed by consultancy Golder Associates that through its acquisition of Marston Mining has grabbed front row seats for the expansion.
Beating the tax
July 14 - 20, 2011
IF IT sounded like Snowden senior consultant Dr Tarrant Elkington was making a sales pitch at the recent Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) convention in Perth, that’s because he was. But at a conference packed with plenty of fear and loathing about new taxes, his assertion that many miners seem quite happy to pay significant amounts of “assumption tax” surely deserved greater scrutiny.
Palaris sets fast expansion pace
July 7 - 13, 2011
COAL miners struggling to assemble A-grade planning and project delivery teams in the current highly competitive recruitment environment have a ready-made option in companies such as Palaris. Perhaps that was something the fast-growing consulting firm’s founder John Pala saw coming a decade ago.
Consulting briefs: AMEC, SRK
July 7 - 13, 2011
ENGINEERING and project management group AMEC continues to load its front-end feed work pipeline, picking up two definitive feasibility studies for uranium projects in Namibia at a time of seemingly moribund prospects for the fuel.
Value probe yields promising results
June 30 - July 6, 2011
ENCOURAGINGLY for niche consulting firm Whittle Consulting an initial enterprise optimisation study completed for South African miner Assmang’s manganese business has produced results that have “been of great value in aiding decision-making”, though more detail for those closely watching the ‘enterprise optimisation’ story unfold will apparently have to wait for now.
