Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Gavin Halse, Managing Director of South Africa’s ApplyIT says the “medium-term outlook for the world’s mining sector remains positive. Global demand for resources driven from the emerging economies has over the past 12 months led to unprecedented levels of investment in certain regions, notably in Australia. These new projects are placing a strain on resources as companies compete for scarce skills and expertise in the labour markets. Mining companies are increasingly looking to technology solutions to standardise processes and to help manage increasing complexity, in this regard the sector is no different from any other global operation. It should come as no surprise that the information technology challenges experienced by mining companies have much in common with companies in other sectors such as petrochemicals, energy and process manufacturing. However, there are unique and specialised aspects of mining that do not necessarily apply to these other sectors. These include the fixed location of raw materials, finite tenement resources, asset and energy intensive plants, inherently hazardous operations, relatively small volumes of very high value products (eg, gold and platinum) and large volumes of relatively low value commodity products (eg, iron ore and coal). (more…)
