Consultants

Our pool of consultants have an extensive background across a broad range of projects. This cuts across most commodities and covers both underground and open pit operations. Although our core experience base is the managment of study and due diligence work, we also have consultants with extensive EPCM type project managment as well as operational management experience.

(click photo for CV)

Partners

Jim Pooley has over 25 years’ experience in the mining industry. This time has been split between production work in conventional and mechanised mines, project work and consulting. He has been involved in a number of large pre-feasibility and feasibility studies and in the project management and implementation of several projects. Jim is currently active in study project management, mining design and detailed costing and due diligence and expert opinion. He is Managing Director of the South African office.

Pat Willis is a mining engineer and Professional Enghineer with over 42 years’ experience in mining, mining research and development, and private consultancy. Pat has led a number of feasibility studies and technical reviews in the past 15 years covering most commodities. He has also acted as Expert Witness and provides expert opinion on a range of mining related issues. He is a holder of a South African Mine Metallurgical Managers Certificate of Competency and is a Fellow and past President of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM). He is Chairman of the UK business.

Andrew Bamber is a qualified Professional Engineer with over 20 years experience in mining and mineral processing in Southern Africa, Canada, South America and Asia. He has extensive experience in process and process equipment design, plant design, operations and management, project management, as well as extensive involvement in mining both at the research and consulting level, with specializations in advanced process technologies and mining innovation. He has worked as a Consulting Engineer on numerous pre-feasibility and feasibility studies and has contributed as lead engineer in the completion of 4 major capital projects on time and under budget. He is Principal of our North America business and Managing Director of our UK business.

Clive Brown is a mining engineer with approximately 25 years’ experience in the mining industry including production work in operational gold and coal mines, work as a blasting engineer, work as a consulting mining engineer undertaking feasibility studies and mine designs for a wide range of mines and a role as technical manager for a gold mine.

Maurice Boustead is a mechanical engineer with over 35 years’ experience in the mining industry specializing in infrastructure design including pipes and pumps and mining equipment choice and operation. He has extensive material handling experience and has undertaken numerous due diligence reviews focusing on costs and engineering infrastructure.

Tony Botha is a mining engineer with over 45 years of mining industry experience. During this time he has worked in both the coal and hard rock mining sectors on both open cast and underground mining operations. Tony has extensive experience of operations and consulting environments covering both due diligence and study work.

Steve Brace is a mining engineer with more than 40 years’ experience. Having spent a number of years in the South Africa mining industry he joined SASOL to build up their explosive business from virtually nothing to the size it is today. As well as doing blast design, he is now a world expert on blasting and explosives and specialises on International Explosives Regulatory Compliance.

Chris Jones has worked in the mining industry since graduating in 2006. Following his initial training with Rio Tinto in Australia, Chris moved to Snowden’s, firstly in Australia and then in South Africa gaining international mining experience of diverse projects including: Project management of and completion of Scoping, Pre-Feasibility and Bankable Feasibility Studies, Independent Technical Reviews and Due Diligence studies for various ore deposits and providing on-site mine planning and mentoring to engineers at underground and open pit operations. He then joined Discovery Metals in Botswana and returned to consulting in 2014 as Senior Mining Engineer at Bara Consulting. He has significant experience in the use of multiple mine design, scheduling and mine optimisation software.

Collins Ramusha is a Mining Engineer with 3 years experience on coal mines where he worked as a miner and shift overseer. He obtained his degree in Mining Engineering from the University of Pretoria in 2014. His passíon lies ín mine designs and mine optimisations and is currently undertaking an internship.

Chris Sangster is a mining engineer with over 40 years’ experience in the mining industry. He has a BSc Hons in Mining Engineering from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College in London and a GDE in Mineral Economics from the University of Witwatersrand and is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining. His career covers extensive production and technical experience at senior levels in both junior and multi-national companies in gold, diamonds and base metals in Africa, UK and Canada and covers a wide range of mining applications. Between 1996 and 1999, Chris was General Manager for Caledonia Mining Corporation for the Cononish Gold Project and a Director of Fynegold Exploration. After 1999, he moved to the Zambian Copperbelt with Anglo American plc / KCM plc where he attained the position of Vice President Mining Services and in 2005 joined Australian Mining Consultants as a Principal Mining Engineer. In 2007, Chris co-founded ASX and AIM listed Scotgold Resources and was its CEO / Managing Director until October 2014. He remains a non-Executive Director and Technical Consultant to Scotgold and is a Non Executive Director of Ariana Resources.

Derek Walters is a mining engineer with over 40 years experience in the mining industry. The majority of this has been spent in the mine environmental control and engineering discipline. Since 1999 Derek has performed risk and compliance auditing, ventilation and cooling system design assessments for pre-feasibility, fully bankable feasibility studies and due diligence investigations on over 50 diamond, precious metal, base metal and coal mines in Southern Africa, East and West Africa, Australia, Europe, Brazil, China, DRC, Ukraine, Tanzania and Mongolia.

Dick Watts is a mining engineer with more than 45 years’ experience in coal and hard rock mining both as an operating manager and as a consultant. Dick is a member of the SAIMM and has Mine Manager’s Statutory Qualifications for UK and South African Mines and has extensive international operating experience including mining in UK, India, Uzbekistan and Russia. He has led an number of feasibility studies and due diligence reviews and has acted as an Expert Witness.

Chris Wilson is a geologist with over 25 years experience. A Chartered Professional and Qualified Person for the reporting of exploration results and mineral deposit resources/reserves in accordance with the CIM (NI43-101) and JORC codes. Significant experience with Russian GKZ code and strong understanding of the South African Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (SAMREC) and NAEN codes. Many years experience in area selection and prospect generation, target generation and testing, and the design and management of large resource definition drilling and pre-feasibility programs. Experience in project review, valuation and acquisition in over 60 countries, encompassing most commodities and deposit types. Experienced with design and management of joint venture and earn-in agreements, and advice on public listing.

Ed Baldrey is an electrical engineer with over 15 years’ experience in the mining industry specializing in the design and review of electrical, control and instrumental systems related to mines, process plants and pumping systems. He is a registered professional engineer.

Eddie Bryne has over 30 years’ experience in the mining industry. This time has been split between design and manufacturing of mining related products, implementation and use of the products and the management of a multi-disciplined team of skilled professionals in design, manufacture, supply and construction of various plants and equipment whilst maintaining managerial control of project costs, delivery and scope of work requirements.

Allan du Plessis has been in the mining industry since 1976, holding appointments from section engineer on a number of operating mines, to engineering manager and project manager for a large mining contracting company (Cementation, now Murray & Roberts Cementation and Cementation Canada). He has been consulting on various aspects of primary access design work, including decline and vertical shaft construction, and raiseboring for the last nine years and is considered a leading expert in this field. He also has inter alia, extensive surface and underground infrastructure experience, including grout plant and backfilling design.

Etienne de Villiers has over 10 years’ experience in the mining industry. This experience includes work as a consulting mechanical engineer on the evaluation of systems and projects through mathematical, financial, statistical or risk modelling for various levels of study. Other experience includes mechanical design of facilities and services for both underground and open pit mines.

Alan Forsyth received a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1975, Alan joined Samuel Osborn (South Africa) Limited, who manufacture and supply materials handling and beneficiation plant, conveyors and equipment to the mining, quarrying and construction industries. Typically these were turnkey contracts over a broad range of minerals. Projects included tips, crushing and screening plants, conveyors systems, dense-medium beneficiation plants, sampling plants, storage and rapid-loading terminals, with capacities ranging up to 5,000tph and conveyors up to 2400 mm wide and 6 km in length. In July 1999 he was appointed managing director, the position he held until he left the company in September 2004. He is a registered professional enginner.

Johan vd Merwe has nearly 40 years’ experience as a draughtsman almost all of it focussed on the mining industry. He is a recognised industry expert in the design of all aspects of headgears and shafts but he also has extensive experience in most mine design requirements including conveyors, crushing & screening plants and mine plans. He also has many years’ experience in drawing office procedures and standards as well as training, project coordination, checking and estimating.

Willie Schoeman is a professional mechanical engineer with 45 years experience in most mining related disciplines from feasibility studies through to construction, commissioning, operating and maintaining plant. His experience includes underground and open cast mining, track-bound and trackless haulage, pumping installations, hoisting, compressed air, bulk materials handling, ore beneficiation, smelters, general mine surface and underground infrastructure and mine closure and rehabilitation. He also has considerable experience in fresh and waste water treatment and pumping plants.

Sten Johannson has spent his entire career in process engineering since 1966. Experience includes design, research, operations, project management and consultancy in a broad selection of metals including iron ore, vanadium, lead, zinc, copper, gold and uranium. Sten has particular expertise in pelletizing and SAG milling applications. This experience has been applied in studies conducted in Europe, South Africa, Ukraine, Brazil, Italy and various sub-Saharan African countries.

Richard Way has spent his entire career in mineral processing and metallurgy since graduating in 1968. Experience includes plant design, management of operations, consulting to operations, sampling and metallurgical accounting. Commodity experience includes gold, platinum group metals, copper, copper-nickel, iron ore, chrome, manganese, mineral sands, uranium and thermal coal. Country experience includes the operation of mineral processing plants in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, performing prefeasibility and feasibility study reviews of projects in Mozambique, Australia, Brazil, Chile and South Africa, and Due Diligence and Pre-Acquisition reviews on projects and operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Zambia, Argentina, Peru, Chile and Canada.

(click photo for CV)

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