However, the latest surge in the mining industry has yet to reach similar levels to those prior to the economic downturn, despite investment from new sources, such as India and China.

“Consequently, there are not a high number of large projects going into execution; however, a large number of feasibility studies that were stopped by mining companies during the recession have been restarted. New feasibility studies have also been undertaken, which significantly increases demand for our skills as consulting engineers,” he explains.

“We are currently busy with more feasi- bility studies than ever before, and execution of the majority of these projects is set to start within the next six months to a year,” Glover adds.

However, he says these new projects will be affected by the global skills shortage.

“The execution phase of a project is more labour intensive than the feasibility phase.

“We are looking at an estimated ratio of about five to one in terms of professional staff requirements for the execution phase of a project and its feasibility phase, albeit many of these skills are different to those required in feasibility,” Glover says.

Further, Glover says the need for skilled workers in competing industries, such as the infrastructure sector, is also shrinking the skills pool. The South African government has allocated a large amount of capital for the infrastructure programme.

“Companies including consulting engineers and mining houses are competing to find enough skilled workers to do the work at hand,” he adds.

To tackle the skills shortage, TWP spends a large portion of its bottom line on training both existing and new employees.

“We have an in-house draughting school and send employees on higher education courses. It’s important to continually train one’s workforce to ensure a constant supply of skilled workers,” he says.

TWP is also following an aggressive recruitment and skills sourcing strategy, which aims to bring in skills from countries such as Peru, Australia and the UK. Glover says the company hopes this will alleviate the looming skills shortage.

“We are also looking at novel ways of bringing in skills from India and expect major developments in this regard within the next few months,” he says.

Further, he strongly believes that South African mining companies should take a collaborative approach to using available skills as effectively as possible.

“If we join forces with similar businesses in industry, we have a far better chance of finding solutions to the skills shortage. TWP has a strong record of joint venture (JV) initiatives,” he notes.

World-Class Engineers

He feels that South African engineers are among the best globally, particularly in deep-level mining operations.

“We have the skills to compete with international companies for projects. There is no reason why a South Africa- based business can’t serve the global community and be on par with international businesses,” he adds.

Glover says the South African mining industry should improve on initiatives to capitalise on its high quality of engineers by undertaking more projects overseas, particularly in South America, Africa and Australia. This will, however, require growth.

“The fact that the South African engineering industry has traditionally been focused on local work has hampered our growth as an international competitor. We need to understand where we have key competence, such as deep-level mining, and use this knowledge to grow and consolidate the local industry, and bring in multinational skills to grow to an inter- nationally compatible size,” he explains.

Increased Activity

An increase in mining activity in countries north of South Africa’s borders has shifted TWP’s focus.

Glover tells Mining Weekly: “Although we continue to look after our traditional South African market, we are spending increasingly more time on projects outside of the country’s borders.”

He adds TWP is currently undertaking feasibility studies in countries north of the South African border, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique.

“We are also looking at undertaking projects in Angola and Ghana,” he notes.

Glover believes the rise in mining activity in other Southern and Central African countries can be attributed to the improving stability of the political and economic climate in those countries.

“Long-term political stability is an absolute requirement for mining investors, because not only do they invest significant amounts of money, but it also takes an extended period of time to yield returns. Unless they have the assurance of political safety, they will not take the chance,” he says.

However, he did caution on investment in South Africa.

“Despite South Africa having an abundance of mineral resources and having the best infrastructure in Africa, [the country] tends to be less attractive to international mining investors because of the uncertainties around the possible nationalisation of our mines and other issues around mineral rights,” he says.

However, he insists that this must be tackled at the most senior political level: “There is no reason why we should not be at the top of the list of attractive mining countries to invest in.”

Service Expansion

Glover explains that TWP has expanded its project delivery method by going beyond the bounds of the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) model.

“We have improved our offering as a services provider across the value chain, rather than only focusing on the pure engineering aspect of a project,” he says.

“Many of our clients do not have enough staff to operate the process plants we install, for instance, and we, thus, started an operations business that provides skilled staff to run operations,” Glover explains.

Further, he says there is a trend in cer- tain sectors towards turnkey contracting models, where service providers are expected to increase their risk exposure.

“TWP is finding that some of our newer clients want the company to go beyond engineering and procurement of the projects, and run the whole operation,” he says.

This increasing demand has led TWP to expand its services in conjunction with its parent company, Basil Read, to actually do the construction, instead of only managing the construction process as prescribed by the EPCM model.

“This enables us to provide clients with a complete solution,” Glover adds.

Projects

Glover reports that progress on current projects is good.

The company recently successfully erected the headgears of both the main shaft and the services shaft at the Royal Bafokeng Platinum Styldrift shaft com- plex, at which TWP is the EPCM contractor for the deep-level shaft on the Styldrift Merensky phase one project.

The project forms part of the Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine (BRPM), a JV between Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) and Royal Bafokeng Holdings. TWP currently has 13 different shaft systems on its books, some in the design phase and some under construction.

The 50:50 JV was formed to exploit platinum-group metals in the Merensky and UG2 reefs on the Boschkoppie, Styldrift and Frischgewaagd farms on the western limb of the Bushveld Complex. Following a restructure of the JV in 2009, Royal Bafokeng Platinum was formed, which holds a 67% majority interest in the JV.

The main shaft is planned to reach a depth of 740 m, and the services shaft, 705 m. Full production of phase one is expected to be achieved by 2017, which will increase BRPM’s production to 430 000 t/m.

Further, construction of gold miner Great Basin Gold’s Burnstone gold mine was successfully completed in January 2011, and officially started operations in February 2011.

Glover says TWP has also received a number of new projects.

In November 2010, diamond company De Beers commissioned TWP to undertake a feasibility study of the shaft envelope design of a new 1 000-m-deep shaft at its Venetia mine. The study is expected to be completed before the end of 2011.

Feasibility studies for miner Implats’ No 18 and 19 shafts were also awarded to TWP and are expected to start next year.

Other new projects include investment company Mimosa Investments’ Mimosa mine phase six project, in Zimbabwe, a life-of-mine study at coal miner Anglo Thermal Coal’s New Vaal colliery, and a feasibility study for infrastructure, plant, housing and a workshop facility for iron-ore miner Kumba Iron Ore.

TWP will also undertake feasibility studies for hard-coal miner Total Coal’s Eloff mine, in Witbank, and for a new coal- mine in the Mozambique coalfields.

“We are also pursuing low-cost centres in Jakarta, Indonesia, where we are designing and engineering a new gold plant, which is being built in the Philippines,” he adds.

Further, the company reports that miner Anglo American has selected it as a tier-one EPCM services provider for its mining projects throughout Southern Africa.

This follows a stringent preselection process in line with Anglo’s global initia- tive to transform its procurement and supply chain operations. Tier one involves supplying EPCM services at the highest level for major mining projects. TWP Projects is one of only three EPCM service providers to be selected for this region.

The framework contract was signed in London on November 3, 2010.

“We are very excited and honoured by this mark of approval from one of the world’s largest mining companies. This kind of framework agreement allows strong partnerships to develop in a far more effective way than through the traditional percontract agreements.

“It is an extension our 50:50 JV business with project management and process plant design specialist DRA Minerals Projects, a concept pioneered by project house Vhumbanani Projects, which was established to service Amplats’ concentrator plant expansion programme,” says Glover.