Test Feb 2021

AROUND THE INDUSTRY

SRK Exploration expands As the number of drilling announce- ments has increased steadily over recent months, Cardiff-based SRK Exploration Services is expanding with a new office in Johannesburg. SRK Exploration Services, a disci- pline-led practice within the global SRK Group, has for 15 years supported pros- pecting and mining companies from the spark of an initial idea through to the defi- nition of mineral resources. A key player in the establishment of the new Johannesburg office is Bill Brodie Good, a director of SRK Exploration Services. Brodie Good is a principal explo- ration geologist with 25 years of expe- rience in establishing and managing exploration programmes, predominantly in Africa. “We are excited by the prospect of what this new office will offer as it gives us the ability to work more closely with SRK South Africa in offering a broad range of field exploration services to cli- ents in the region,” says Oliver Bayley, southern African exploration manager at SRK Exploration Services, based in the Johannesburg office. “These services focus on the execution of exploration pro- grammes – providing support that ranges from a single technical team member to managing and executing every aspect of multi-million-dollar turnkey exploration programmes.” The company’s capabilities extend

increased number of opportunities from established mining companies outsourc- ing specific brown-field exploration proj- ects – as the commodity downturn has led to the shedding of many traditionally in-house technical skills. “Due to the reduction of in-house technical capabilities, we have grown our service provision over the last four years,” he says. “Our presence in South Africa will give us a larger exposure to this market, as well as to investment groups and gov- ernment departments – leveraging our growing range of services.” Theart emphasises the value of the collaboration between SRK Exploration Services’ focus on project execution and SRK South Africa’s traditional consulting services. “Project execution entails the physical geological work in any explora- tion project, where our well-trained geo- logical staff in the field will ensure that quality and timing objectives are met,” he says. “Close collaboration ensures the seamless flow-through of the required quality information from this work to our consulting functions – including mineral resource estimation, project assessment and valuation, and finally to the multi-dis- ciplinary teams responsible for scoping, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies and related public reports.” Bayley highlights the significance of integrity and independence in providing these services for clients, especially in the

to the construction, management and staffing of field exploration camps and in-country support offices – as well as pro- viding safety and security training courses focused specifically on exploration and mining settings. According to Hennie Theart – corpo- rate consultant, partner and economic geologist at SRK South Africa – the local presence of SRK Exploration Services will allow closer collaboration with the team of senior SRK SA consultants who have provided exploration consulting services for 17 uninterrupted years. “We have seen that many mining companies do not have the in-house abil- ity to execute exploration programmes that meet international best practice stan- dards,” says Theart. “An integrated consult- ing and project management exploration function offered from our Johannesburg office will assist clients to conduct qual- ity exploration work – so they can avoid the costly and time-consuming remedial actions that often result from sub-stan- dard exploration processes.” As exploration becomes more tech- nically challenging, the growing ranks of mid-tier and junior mining companies – who can lack in-house technical ability – has created a rising market for SRK to offer an integrated exploration solution, according to Bayley. In addition to its regular client base of junior explorers, SRK Exploration Services has also seen an

context of listing or finance rais- ing processes. “SRK remains one of the only global consultancy groups that is independent, ful ly employee owned, and with no interests in exploration or mining projects. This allows us to provide an internation- ally recognised, independent service whose integrity can be relied upon by all stakeholders in a mining project.” www.srk.co.za

SRK’s Hennie Theart and Oliver Bayley.

6

MODERN QUARRYING Quarter 2 / 2018