https://www.miningweekly.com

Consultancy plans to expand mining capability

AWARD WINNING Knight Piésold won a South African Institution of Civil Engineering award for the design of the tailings storage facility of diversified miner Vedanta’s four-million-tonne-a-year Gamsberg zinc project

ANDREW COPELAND Knight Piésold has learned to tailor projects to suit clients and to make projects cost effective without compromising on quality and technical integrity

25th January 2019

By: Jessica Oosthuizen

Creamer Media Reporter

     

Font size: - +

Multidisciplinary engineering and environmental consultancy Knight Piésold aims to expand its mining capability and market share, especially in tailings, as well as assist mines in developing renewable-energy projects in remote areas where grid power is unavailable or unreliable, says Knight Piésold mining technical director Andrew Copeland.

He tells Mining Weekly that, in South Africa, the company has a significant advantage over its peers, as it is a Level 1 broad-based black economic empowerment- (BBBEE-) certified, South African-owned company that has a significant global reach through its branch offices globally.

Last year, Knight Piésold won fourteen awards from industry associations Consulting Engineers South Africa (Cesa), the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (Saice) and the Institute of Municipal Engineers. This is the highest number of awards won by a firm last year.

The company won a Saice award for the design of the tailings storage facility (TSF) of diversified miner Vedanta’s four-million-tonne-a-year Gamsberg zinc project, in the Northern Cape. The company also won awards from Saice and Cesa for the design of State-owned phosphates company Foksor’s Selati TSF decant tower, in Phalaborwa, Limpopo.

“Knight Piésold has a reputation in the civil and mining industries for executing large and small projects on time, within budget and to high-quality standards,” Copeland highlights.

The company is working on several projects for major mining companies, including Anglo American, Rio Tinto, Glencore, Vedanta and AngloGold Ashanti, as well as for midtier and junior miners.

Knight Piésold also recently successfully completed a 14 MW run-of-river hydropower project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for gold miner Randgold Resources’ Kibali gold mine.

He notes that the company has learned to tailor projects to suit clients and to make projects cost effective without compromising on quality and technical integrity.

Industry and Indaba
Copeland believes that mining in South Africa is in a challenging phase, owing to ageing gold, platinum, diamond and coal mines and many of the shallow, rich orebodies having been mined out.

He notes that the remaining orebodies are either deep and risky, requiring large capital investment or lower-grade and less feasible to mine.

“We will see many of the older, marginal mines closing. The investment climate is challenging for foreigners and a combination of labour, community and illegal miner issues, as well as taxes, political uncertainty and BBBEE requirements undermine confidence and profitability.” However, the revised Mining Charter III is considered a step in the right direction, he adds.

Moreover, there are opportunities and incentives to enter the market for local junior miners, he adds, but existing mines will focus on stay-in-business options, which will provide consulting work opportunities, such as ongoing monitoring of existing mineral residue facilities, with few expansion projects.

Although significant political risk exists for mines in other parts of Africa, there are significant opportunities in the DRC if things improve. He further notes that Namibia and Botswana are safer investment locations, while there are high-risk opportunities in Zambia, Mozambique, Angola, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Knight Piésold has offices in Zambia, Namibia, the DRC and Madagascar, and can assist in the mitigation of some of these risks, Copeland mentions.

He advances that existing mines in many of the countries will “stagger along”, with few large expansion projects.

Meanwhile, Knight Piésold will attend the Investing in African Mining Indaba from February 4 to 7 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Copeland says the company attends the event to strengthen existing client relations, meet new clients, and assess market changes and opportunities.

“The Indaba provides a great networking opportunity, owing to the vast number of people all in one place.” The company will host a client event at the Mining Indaba.

He believes that the atmosphere at the event will be similar to that of last year, as there is still great interest and growth in the battery minerals market, and market conditions in many African countries have not changed dramatically.

However, investors will be wary of the election results in the DRC and Madagascar, and will also follow the local election build-up, he concludes.

Edited by Zandile Mavuso
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Features

Comments

Showroom

Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East

Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Rittal
Rittal

Rittal is a world leading provider of top-quality integrated systems for enclosures, power distribution, climate control, IT infrastructure and...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
27th March 2024
Resources Watch
Resources Watch
27th March 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.229 0.264s - 111pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now