AusIMM article – Tackeling the crisis in mineral exploration

AusIMM article – Tackeling the crisis in mineral exploration. [Posted 24 Oct 2015, 184 views, 6 likes, 0 comments]

“Tackling the crisis in mineral exploration” is an excellent article by A. Koch, D.Schilling, D.Upton and the Boston Consulting group that appears in the October 2015 edition of the AusIMM Bulletin.

The starting point of this article is the observation that “the number of giant discoveries, which historically accounted for the vast majority of the world’s metal supplies, has tapered off to only one or two per year despite the massive increase in exploration spending.” The report looked at who made the past  major discoveries, and identified the following factors for a company to approach the exploration industry:-by undertaking  strong  exploration leadership, support by the board, engaguing  ‘ore finders”, mentoring young geologists, ballance between staff & consultant geologists, give sufficient autonomy to the exploration team, and retain the core exploration team as part of the core company. The report indicates that Ore finders are typically geologists who can define and act upon key geological factors and design/manage an appropriate exploration program, as opposed to simply good technical geologists. The article implies that the team leaders characteristics should emphasize Experience, Persistance and  Inovation. The changing economics now emphasizes greenfields.

There are some 230 members of AusIMM in Indonesia that can access the article on the AusIMM web site. A good read.