Mining

The mining industry finds itself in the spotlight. Its defining challenge is the tension between changing societal expectations for the conduct of mining and the economic need to ramp up raw material supply for the energy transition.

A mine has a finite life before its reserves are exhausted, so new mines must constantly be discovered and developed. Once built, with huge sunk capital, mines and their impacts on ecology and society are very hard to change. The design decisions that set these constraints are made years in advance of production, often by small “junior” mining companies with limited resources, who have likely inherited stakeholder relationships from a succession of previous owners.

More jurisdictions are requiring deeper involvement of communities, First Nations and Indigenous peoples where many mines are built and operated. While free, prior and informed consent is a new standard for many, it is becoming a business necessity not only to secure consent, but to enable true participation in decision-making.

We help you make decisions about projects with greater levels of collaboration and inclusion, so that products can be brought to market promptly, responsibly and without conflict.

We enable decision processes to accommodate and track more inputs. We have experience working with Indigenous groups and other communities in system-change initiatives, and we build mine design concept models that allow numerous scenarios to be rapidly evaluated at very low cost. We provide this support with a high strategic awareness of the divergent business models of junior and senior mining, the shifting priorities of investors, the role of regulation and the structure and strategy of the companies involved.

Ultimately, participation in decision-making is what builds trust. Trust enables miners and communities to co-design their operations to the benefit of all. It hinges on the development of shared values through relationships, and provides the opportunity to demonstrate to stakeholders and rights-holders that we have heard and accommodated their concerns.

Our Services

  • Facilitation and Strategy

    We provide experienced facilitation and advisory services for executive and board workshops, enabling you to nurture the mindsets and strategies needed to adapt to a changing world.

  • Evaluation under Uncertainty

    We build stochastic models of mining and processing value chains that allow future projects to be evaluated under conditions of high uncertainty. We simulate the use of management decision logic to calculate the value of system flexibility across multiple criteria.

  • Innovation Risk Management

    Using simulation and co-design with technology innovators, we identify the criticality of technology risks, as well as the wider implications of their adoption or failure, to bring management teams on a journey that realizes the benefits of changing the system.