And the Busy Year Continues...
For 5 months from December 2016 to April 2017, Chris Brodie Consulting worked at Shanta Gold in Tanzania, reviewing supply chain matters.
This was followed immediately by work (and a bit of a Cotswold family break) at our offices in Ewell and Telford UK.
At the beginning of May, I slipped in a a flying 2 days visit to Hatch' Edenvale office in South Africa to discuss potential work later this year - more on this separately (I don't want to spook it!).
At the end of May, following acceptance of our proposal for a 3-week supply chain study at Kaz Minerals in Kazakhstan, worked for 2 weeks at SCM office in Almaty and 2 days at each of Aktogay and Bozshakol, which with travelling and 4 overnight train journeys, actually took 6 days. The final 81 page report document was issued on 14 June, presented on 19 June in Almaty, with a final Q&A on 22 June, again in Almaty.
And now for our summer vacation for 2 weeks!
There is more in the pipeline from August. Watch this space!
A BUSY WINTER
Migrating south for the winter this year, Chris has been working for several months with Shanta Gold at New Luika mine in SW Tanzania.
The first half of the assignment was to assess supply chain while managing the department until new SCM leaders were recruited,
Since the end of January, the new management recruits have settled in and attention has turned to development of systems and procedures. This will continue at site until April.
Good news at last?: Mining head-hunter says the clouds are parting
This opinion in reported in mining.com bodes well for the future
If recruiting is picking up, then that has to be a great sign.
Fingers crossed!
The Underground Dwellers of Cooper Pedy
This is not a new story by a long chalk. I've known about Cooper Pedy for most of my long mining life, and here it is again.
This article implies that it was found accidentally. A bit of poetic license perhaps, but the article is interesting none the less.
Courtesy: National Geographic
British Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan
We are proud to announce that we have been accepted as full members of the British Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan (BCCK)
BCCK is developing a strong interest in mining within this mineral rich country and we hope to see considerable developments in the next few years after a period of poor foreign investment. More on this on BCCK's website here.
In almost 11 years that we have been in Kazakhstan, we have developed a strong understanding and knowledge of the country, its social and business cultures and of course mining in the region.
If you wish to know more, please contact Chris at chris.brodie@chrisbrodieconsulting.com or directly with BCCK at either info@britishchamber.kz or fill in the message form on BCCK's website here
Newmont Marches On
Chris Brodie had the good fortune to work for Newmont Mining from Jul 1999 until Dec 2005. What an excellent employer then and, from its ambitions reflected in this article in mining.com, it seems to be continuing this trend.
Their new project in Suriname will add to their productivity. We wish them good fortune.
Chris joined Newmont at Zarafshan in Uzbekistan almost a year after a two-week consulting assignment at site to review the supply chain situation after 3 years of operations and to recommend action to be taken. Newmont accepted his recommendations and started work on this. After some time, it was agreed that Chris himself would stay long term in Zarafshan to accomplish this. Although it was a projected two-year assignment, Chris enjoyed the project, the company and the location and stayed for over 6 years before moving on to Kazakhstan to open his mining supply chain consulting and services businesses.
During that time, once his recommendations had been implemented, he took on further assignments in Uzbekistan and with Newmont globally. He implemented the 1st successful e-procurement program in Central Asia during this time.
Burkina Faso: A Top 5 Gold Producer in Africa
I spent much of 2015 working in Burkina Faso, at the Karma project during development, then owned by True Gold Mining, now taken over by Endeavour Mining.
My task was to design supply chain processes to suit a developing mine in a remote region, compatible with its chosen ERP system.
Burkina Faso is an exciting country for mining and our associate company Aquila Limited is today supplying Chinese and SE Asian mining consumables to this country.
This article High Grades and High Hopes: Burkina Faso's Golden Promise from Macig delves into Burkina Faso's mining wealth.
Just In Case...
Just in case you expect this to happen in your lifetime, here is a great infograph on:
MINING IN SPACE
Busy Week In Almaty
Last week, Kazakhstan hosted Mining World Central Asia exhibition in Almaty from 14 - 16 September.
It was better this year with less Chinese and Russian influence and more of an international flavour. Three halls were filled with exhibitors which was an improvement over recent years and a wider range of exhibitors seem to be returning.
Outdoor exhibitors are conspicuous by their absence though. The yard was filled a few years ago. Now there are very few exhibitors showing large outdoor equipment. Borusan, the Kazakhstan Caterpillar dealer, was once more absent as they have been for many years now.
Attendance seems to have improved too, which appeared to catch out organisers ITE as registration meant a 30 minute queue.
It was worth attending the exhibition (as I am in Almaty right now) but unless you have specific targets, you can be in and out in an hour!
UKTI organised a trade visit to Kazakhstan to coincide with the Mining Exhibition and, as a delegate, and I attended some of the meetings.
This will be covered in more detail in my next blog