Modern Mining November 2015

CONSULTANTS/ PROJECT HOUSES

High Commission in Accra, Ghana’s capital. “We attended the seventh WaCA (West Africa and Central Africa) Mining Summit in Accra in May this year and we’re look- ing at developing partnerships in Ghana, as we believe that this is the only way we can establish a foothold in the region,” Pieterse states. “As regards Central Africa, our original thinking was to access it via Lubumbashi in Katanga, which we know well, but increas- ingly we believe that a sound alternative could be Rwanda, which is now a stable country offering an excellent business environment. The tax regime is favourable and a range of incentives is available to investors. One of our directors has recently visited the country and was very impressed by what he saw.” Within Southern Africa, VBKom has been particularly active in the Northern Cape virtu- ally since it was founded. “About 80 % of our business has historically been derived from the iron ore and manganese mines in the area and – in recognition of this fact – we’ve now opened an office in Kathu which is headed by Hannes Cronjé,” says Pieterse. “He is a top-notch open- pit expert, as evidenced by the fact that he was previously Sishen’s Mining Manager. “We’ve also done extremely well in Namibia, where our operation is run by Werner Moeller. He is a Namibian citizen and earlier in his career worked at Rössing Uranium. He has put us on the map in Namibia and clients include Swakop Uranium, which is developing the massive Husab uranium mine, Bannerman, which hold the Etango uranium project, QKR’s Navachab gold mine, and Lodestone Namibia, for whom we’re doing a BFS on the Dorbabis iron ore project.” Moving to the disciplines within VBKom, perhaps the one that is least understood in the market – certainly amongst the smaller min- ing clients – is industrial engineering. One of the company’s experts in this field is Strauss Oosthuizen, who explains that the discipline concerns itself with the analysis and optimisa- tion of complex processes or systems, whether they be in mining or any other industry. “The key is to eliminate inefficiencies and redundancies and to do more with less,” he says. “Mining engineers, for example, can design a workable open-pit mine that will be perfectly functional but an industrial engineer is required if you want an optimal operation. Industrial engineers bring a totally differ- ent perspective to the analysis of any system or process and will hone in on details which would almost certainly be missed by col- leagues in the more mainstream disciplines.

VBKom assisted Kolomela mine in the Northern Cape on its five-year Heavy Mining Equipment (HME) replacement strategy as it moved from contractor to owner mining.

It’s a totally different paradigm but the results can be remarkable.” Strauss is also involved in VBKom’s risk management and decision support services. “The techniques we use have application in all industries but are particularly relevant to min- ing where companies often have to take major investment decisions that they will generally have to live with for years into the future,” he observes. “We have a toolbox of methodologies that we can draw on to assist clients with their decision making and which go well beyond what is available from the more narrowly focused mining engineering consultancies.” Finally, what of the future for VBKom? Manie Kriel is adamant that the consultancy must grow. “We have an appetite to be bigger and to service every part of the mining value chain, from exploration through to mine closure,” he says. “If you stay as you are, then that’s stagna- tion. Having said this, we are in a really severe downturn in mining and growth is clearly not going to be easy to achieve in the short or even medium term. There’s a price war in the mar- ket and we’re even finding that the big EPCM houses are increasingly intruding into the con- sulting space in an attempt to find work. Our restructuring, however, positions us well for the current business environment and will allow us to maintain our position and even grow while we wait for the inevitable upswing.” 

VBKom’s Werner Heenop at the Kathu office.

“In essence, we now offer seven niche services over three revenue streams or commodity

focus areas and in three geographical regions.”

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November 2015  MODERN MINING  45