While the number of representatives from mining companies attending the 2015 Investing in African Mining Indaba seems to have dwindled and the presence of mining service providers has increased, South Africa-based consulting firm Mac Consulting says potential clients still paid the company several visits, wanting to view its solutions.

The company exhibited its complete set of solutions, which included capital project enablement, supply chain management, value chain optimisation, change management, short-term business improvement, sustainability consultation and leadership development, at the Mining Indaba, which took place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from February 9 to 12, Mac Consulting associate director Steve Burks tells Mining Weekly.

“As expected, low commodity prices and increasing cost of production took the centre stage of most discussions, presentations and enquiries at the indaba. In line with this, we presented cost-cutting and revenue-enhancing solutions to mining company representatives that visited our stand, among other solutions,” he elaborates.

Burks says the company has created capabilities to facilitate approaches that assist mining companies in upgrading their strategic and business planning processes.

Recent Projects
Burks tells Mining Weekly that Mac Consulting’s recent contracts provided solutions for several gold and platinum mines based in South Africa as well as operations and projects producing a range of commodities in other African countries including Zimbabwe, Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The work included contracts to assist a large mining corporation with operational readiness support for a project that involved the relocation of an entire mining village.

Operational Effectiveness
Burks explains that, to increase clients’ potential net present value (NPV), Mac Consulting has developed an enhanced solution – the operational effectiveness solution – whereby the company uses its experience and expertise to confirm and then implement strategic optimisation recommendations.

“Mac Consulting applies strategic optimisation to identify potential NPV improvements from 5% to 35%, then confirms which improvements might be realised in practice, reduces the risk that they might not be operable and sometimes also identifies potential to improve the results even further by incorporating short-term business improvement initiatives in the optimisation model,” explains Burks.

Throughout this process, Mac Consulting provides fundamental transition support for the client to achieve organisational change and leadership in operating practices, concludes Burks.