Specialised skills demanded by evolving industry standards

Noting the significant mining developments taking place in West Africa and the requirement for new mines to comply with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM), global engineering consultancy SRK Consulting is well positioned to offer specialised skills and mining expertise.

SRK asserts that the GISTM has raised the bar for how tailings storage facilities (TSFs) are designed, constructed and operated, and that this has increased the demand for technical services to help mines align with the new standards.

“The West African region’s long history of mining means that there are many existing TSFs that require attention. There is also considerable mining development in the region, so new mines are increasingly wanting to comply with the GISTM requirements from the design stage onwards,” explains SRK Consulting Ghana country manager and partner Ivan Doku.

The GISTM is a good example of a “bold and ambitious benchmark”, which is another building block in the journey towards safe and responsible mining.

SRK’s strategy in the region remains to identify and build local expertise – bringing in international experts as and when required. This drives project innovation and achieves smarter and more effective ways of mining responsibly.

The West African mining region, adds Doku, demands a range of engineering and scientific services – from exploration, resource estimation and mine planning, to tailings management, environmental and social-impact assessments, and closure planning.

Consulting firms such as SRK contribute a range of these requirements, including multi- disciplinary offerings, specialist technical studies and reviews.

He says governments are now ready to leverage the positive impacts of mining to develop local economies in the region, by emphasising a greater focus on local content.

SRK endorses this localisation objective, which outlines that mining services must increasingly be sourced from locally-based firms so that the economic multiplier effect can be enhanced.

Applying higher standards and benchmarks such as the GISTM, however, often requires expertise which is not always available in-house and can also be scarce, says SRK Consulting South Africa chairperson Vis Reddy.

“This strains the supply of services in certain fields of scarce skills, but it does enhance opportunities for knowledge sharing, training and mentoring, especially through partnerships with experienced professionals globally. SRK embraces these opportunities by rooting its business in local skills and developing professionals to conduct this important work,” he adds.

Highlighting the significance of the consultancy in West Africa, Reddy says SRK established a practice in Accra, Ghana, in 2011, which has provided a valuable platform to develop and nurture mining expertise in the region.

SRK’s local in-house experts work with their global colleagues to devise innovative methods of addressing mining challenges in the region.

“A central aspect of our knowledge sharing is the collaboration between our practices around the world, so there is critical and ongoing learning through our multidisciplinary teams that is often cross-border,” he adds.

Further, Doku notes that collaborative efforts are underway with the consultancy’s Asia offices, which works with a growing number of mining companies in Africa.

This allows SRK’s practices in Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and China to assemble multidisciplinary teams to bridge cultural, linguistic and spatial gaps to streamline exploration and development in the region’s mining sector.

Strategic Aims

SRK highlights that the future of mining in West Africa depends on how well the region responds to the rising expectations of stakeholders that include investors, governments and local communities, as well as downstream players such as manufacturers and end-customers.

Reddy says SRK is recruiting more experienced professionals to complement the addition of newcomers to the mining field.

Doku echoes this sentiment, adding that it is vital to find and nurture talent across the age demographic in West Africa by exposing young professionals to the latest trends and industry demands.

“This needs to be done at a practical level, guided and mentored by experienced professionals. At SRK, we have grown our Accra practice along these lines, and envision a great future for young scientists and engineers in a range of related fields,” he concludes.