▲ Public consultation , West Africa alternative opportunities to move forward . We work with Camborne School of Mines , and with local educational establishments . We ’ re also part of an initiative that ’ s developing critical metals , and one aspect of that involves spending time in schools and lower tiers of education to start encouraging and explaining what the industry is really like , as opposed to the current , outdated perception .
“ This does give us an opportunity , as a consultancy , to provide additional support to mid-tier and junior mining companies that maybe are not geared up to resource some of the projects that they ’ ve got . While it can provide an additional consultancy stream for us , there is certainly a challenge to bring people into the industry . It may be that we need to move from one sector to another to develop skill sets .”
Supply chains
Looking to the future for the industry , Alison envisages a paradigm shift on the horizon . “ There ’ s not been enough investment in exploration , in finding new assets and in bringing them to the fore ,” she explains . “ We ’ re not filling the gap in demand . Part of that is because commodity prices haven ’ t shifted . They look a little bit higher , but they ’ ve not accounted for increased costs , inflation , and higher interest rates . Interestingly , geopolitical risks and inflationary pressures may well have overtaken ESG in terms of critical risk to the industry in 2023 . That ’ s the first time I ’ ve seen that in the last five-to-ten years .
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