SRK Consulting has built its global network through people who are not only excellent engineers and scientists with enquiring minds, but entrepreneurs with an eye for opportunity and innovative solutions. The group’s country managers for Ghana, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are men of this mould.

In the DRC, where SRK set up an office in 2010, mining engineer Susa Maleba has been the pioneer – building on the company’s existing client base (established mainly through the South African office) and getting new business within the DRC, as well as from surrounding countries.

Specialising in mine design, ventilation and planning, Maleba also has expertise in feasibility studies, production scheduling, environmental control, occupational hygiene and project management.

With a BSc in mining engineering from the University of Lubumbashi and a BSc Honours degree from the University of Pretoria, his career has included working in the DRC with State-owned mining company Sodimico, as well as in South Africa for CSIR Miningtek and Gold Fields Academy. He worked as a consultant for AB Global Mining before joining SRK Consulting in 2009.

Maleba is enthusiastic about the future of mining in the DRC, and not just in copper and diamonds. “The most exciting new prospects in the short term are gold and tin, which are being discovered in different regions of the DRC,” he said. “For the long term, oil prospects may even be developed in the eastern and northeastern regions of the country.”

In the Ghana office, established in 2011 with geotechnical engineer John Kwofie at its helm, the current focus is on geotechnical services including rock mechanics, tailings engineering and civil geotechnics.

“Most of our work has been on projects relating to openpit slope design for clients in Burkina Faso, Sudan, and Ghana,” said Kwofie. He is assisted by geotechnical engineer Isaac Baidoo and geological engineer Godwin Commey.

To his role as country manager, Kwofie has brought his extensive experience on Ghana’s larger gold mines and, as a consultant, in countries including India and Mali. He has lectured in engineering geology at the University of Ghana, and has been vice-president of the Ghana National Working Group on Rock Mechanics.

While SRK’s Zimbabwe office was originally set up in 1981, it was recently rejuvenated in light of political and economic developments in the country, which bode well for the future.

Arimon Ngilazi, who graduated from the University of Zimbabwe in 1992 and has worked as a geologist in that country almost continuously ever since, has been at the reins since 2010. His career has seen him at Bindura Nickel and Anglo American Zimbabwe (at group level and at the Unki platinum mine), as well at the Sadiola and Yatela mines in Mali.

He completed an Honours degree in geology and later an MBA with merit from the Graduate School of Management at the University of Zimbabwe.

Ngilazi is optimistic that the economy is poised to recover soon. “The multicurrency era has stabilised the operating environment, although lack of local financing has held back the implementation of many new projects and expansions,” he said. “Our focus is on geology and resources, and we stand ready to serve these clients when the anticipated national fortunes change.”

Commenting on the investor interest in Africa, SRK South Africa chairperson Roger Dixon said that some countries do better than others when in comes to balancing an attractive fiscal and legal regime with the need to harvest enough benefit for a nation’s people.

“Investors are clearly being drawn here by the abundant mineral resources that are still available to be mined,” said Dixon. “But it is important that everyone in the equation feels they are getting a fair deal. There has to be shared value for all and we have to eradicate the impression that corruption is part and parcel of doing business in Africa.”

He said South Africa needs to do more to keep investors interested in its mining sector. “We need to demonstrate that there is certainty on legal tenure, for instance.”

Dixon emphasised the vital role of engineering in a sustainable future. “Engineers are working with environmental and social scientists to bring sustainable development to Africa,” he said. “That is what SRK is all about: helping our clients develop a sustainable future for all stakeholders on the African continent.”