PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Advisory firm Deloitte has urged the resources sector to ditch megascale individual mine, rail and port projects and to opt instead for single infrastructure systems that can be used by various major and minor industry participants within any given area.

“Gone are the days when we should be building megaplants and dedicated rail and port facilities for one project. We have to consider the fate of other nearby mines.

“Marginal mines can then focus on extraction rather than processing and transportation, giving them a future,” said Deloitte partner and Australia Africa Services group leader Jacques van Rhyn.

“We have to move to considering mines in close proximity, enter into cost contribution arrangements and jointly develop infrastructure.

“There needs to be serious government collaboration across regions, between the public and the private sector and government macroplans for regional area development.

“We need to assist land-locked countries get their mineral commodities to the coast and, in that way, these countries can contribute to building the necessary infrastructure, so that it is not having to be borne by one country alone.

“Mining companies need to be prepared for divergent future scenarios where collaboration is a key component and consider how to move from business-of-today thinking to business-of-tomorrow success,” Van Rhyn said.

He also questioned the current strategy of pumping extra tonnages into the market, causing price slumps, saying it was barely beneficial for the sector and its players.

“We are creating the cyclical nature of the industry by working in isolation from each other, worrying about our own individual mines, putting more product on the market than it can sustain and, thereby, creating oversupply.

“A more sustainable mining industry can deliver a better return to shareholders and community.”