After the fall
May 15 - 21, 2013
LESSONS – and more – from the Beaconsfield underground mine collapse in 2006 are being applied more widely by the key people involved in responding to the incident and mapping a safe path back to production. They are lessons that are becoming more valuable as more mines head into deeper, higher-stress environments, according to Peter Hills.
Consulting pain cuts deeply
April 10 - 16, 2013
A PAINFULLY drawn-out election year in Australia is compounding the misery for the country’s many internationally renowned mining consulting firms, hit hard by the equity market malaise affecting junior resources companies and the drastic expenditure cutbacks by big miners.
Former Newcrest geotech joins pitt&sherry
June 12 - 18, 2013
FORMER Newcrest Mining geotechnical engineer Michael Pfitzner has joined pitt&sherry as principal consultant – mining geomechanics in the consulting firm’s mining division.
Silver buckshot, not bullets
May 22 - 28, 2013
‘ELEGANT’ and above all simple solutions to common engineering design and other challenges in the mining sector, representing innovation that emerges from improved collaboration as well as integration of available technologies, was even now becoming more apparent as the heat came out of the mining boom, SKM’s Dr Nick Fleming told Austmine 2013.
Consulting leader a top entrepreneur
May 22 - 28, 2013
MAY 24: The head of one of Australia’s largest independent mining consulting firms has earned a nomination for accounting group Ernst & Young’s 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, with the winner to be announced in November.
Clark heads RPM Hong Kong consultancy
May 1 - 7, 2013
ASX-listed RungePincockMinarco has made Jeremy Clark operations manager of its expanding Hong Kong mining consulting office. Clark, who has been with the company since 2010, has more than 13 years of experience in operational and advisory services in more than 40 countries throughout Asia, Australia, Africa and the Americas.
Tsoy to establish Moscow office for CSA
May 1 - 7, 2013
FORMER regional consulting manager with Micromine Alexey Tsoy has officially started in his new role as regional manager for Russia and the CIS with Australian-based international mining consulting firm CSA Global.
Strength in numbers for SRK team
April 24 - 30, 2013
VETERAN big-pit geotechnical and numerical modelling specialist William Gibson has joined international mining consulting group SRK Consulting’s Perth office.
Pollington finds solace in geological disorder
April 17 - 23, 2013
GEOLOGY gradually took precedence over psychology for Nicky Pollington at university, but she got an early chance to employ what she’d learned about both when posted to the Tanami Desert in Australia on her first job out of school.
Environment firm picks up FMG work
April 17 - 23, 2013
APRIL 17: Consulting firm Ecologia Environment, part of ASX-listed Resource Development Group, has been appointed by Western Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group to conduct biological assessments for its exploration projects.
JKTech, Whittle work to highlight optimisation gains
March 27 - April 2, 2013
APRIL 2: Queensland-based JKTech will work with niche consulting and technology firm Whittle Consulting to “amplify the benefits” of its blasting, comminution, mineral processing and geometallurgy technologies via Whittle’s mining optimisation study work.
Lawrence to lead Snowden Coal
March 20 - 26, 2013
MARCH 20: Experienced mining engineer David Lawrence has taken up a new role as divisional manager for coal and mining with Snowden in Brisbane, Queensland.
Growth hinges on bigger commodities picture
February 27 - March 5, 2013
DESPITE sitting in an office in London, where the daily papers have lately been pronouncing last rites for the country’s coal industry, John Pala is not buying into gloom around the global coal business. Still, starting a metals-sector advisory office in the City might be seen as some form of insurance. Then again it might just be another shrewd move by one of Australia’s fastest growing mining consulting firms.
Former FMG exec joins Snowden
February 6 - 12, 2013
FORMER Fortescue Metals Group mining executive Ric Bartlett says international consulting and technology firm Snowden has “some very clever tools, technology and people”. Now he’ll be helping to strategically position them for new growth as group general manager – mining, based in Snowden’s Perth office.
Growth in numbers creates new consulting vision
November 28 - December 4, 2012
SOME traditional mining consulting firms are excited about the problem solving horsepower one or two numerical modelling experts have brought to their mining optimisation teams. In the middle of Perth there is an office full of them, in the one organisation, and they’ve now exported their methodology and technology to South America too.
Runge rebadges
November 28 - December 4, 2012
DECEMBER 3: AUSTRALIAN-listed Runge (ASX: RUL) has wound back the clock on the integration of its global mining consulting operations with the return to prominence of strong regional brands flagged by CEO Richard Mathews in a recent interview with HighGrade (November 7-13).
Savvy gold execs keep it simple
November 21 - 27, 2012
I CLEARLY remember in my first weeks at the Western Australian School of Mines when a sage and seasoned mining professional presented to our engineering class. One of the stand-out comments he made was “... one common mistake that many of you engineers make when you work in the mining industry is that you think the goal is to produce bars of gold or silver or tonnes of nickel or iron ore, etc. That is in fact not the case. The goal is to make money”.
Environmental bonds stand test of time
November 14 - 20, 2012
WHILE he’s no longer directly involved in the leading independent environmental consulting firm he co-founded, Wolf Martinick’s career was celebrated along with those of co-owners Lance Bosch and Kristy Sell at MBS Environmental’s 10th birthday party last week.
Hill brings new perspective at Snowden
November 14 - 20, 2012
STEPHEN Hill is most certainly not just making up the numbers at Snowden. One of the firm’s newest recruits is intent on making a valuable contribution as it continues its aggressive moves to provide clients with a “total process” for mine optimisation.
Golder maintains mining build-up
November 7 - 13, 2012
DIVERSIFIED technical services consultancy Golder Associates has marked a low-key 40th birthday in Australia with another key acquisition and has further potential targets on its radar, a senior mining leader in the firm has told HighGrade.
