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Miners defy large corporate malaise

Ian Sanders

ig businesses in Australia didn’t have a topic we here at Deloitte are passion- “I wouldn’t just say it is cash-strapped
Ba “great year in 2019”, however, min- ate about, in 2019 it only improved. That juniors. I think everyone is having a good
ing companies were the exception, ac- feeling about the mining sector, relative look, be it for investment dollars, across
cording to Deloitte Australia Mining & to 5-10 years ago, has significantly im- their supply chain, getting their partner-
Metals leader Ian Sanders. proved.” ships, JVs and ecosystems right is criti-
Speaking to Paydirt upon the release While some individual companies have cally important, so that they can scale
of Deloitte’s 12th annual global edition of embarked on big budgeted marketing and bring that productivity improvement
Tracking the trends 2020: Leading from campaigns to sell their version of how the and access to the technology that they
the front, Sanders said the mining sector mining sector should been seen, Sand- need and must have to be competitive
was showing leadership ers called for a unified industry voice. going forward,” Sanders said.
“I think the mining sector made some “How we do that is really difficult and From the outset, solid foundations are
real big broad, positive statements and I don’t have an answer but enabling that required for any JV to work and selecting
certainly increased the level of investor voice and coming together as clusters/ the right partners and KPIs is integral,
and community trust in the sector,” Sand- regions or whatever that might be, might Sanders said.
ers said, be the next step,” Sanders said. “Beyond JVs, some mining companies
Community engagement efforts, sus- “There’s a lot of goodness that our sec- are considering other ways to distribute
tainability programmes, technology ad- tor is championing; other sectors like oil the risks associated with major capital
vancements and decarbonisation poli- and gas are jumping on board. I think it is projects. One emerging model is to allo-
cies are areas where the mining sector exciting and I think that is going to be a cate project assets and liabilities across
has taken the lead. real highlight to see the leap in sustain- a full ecosystem of partners – from min-
“It is not just the big players like BHP ability and decarbonisation that we see ing companies, original equipment man-
[Ltd] and South32 [Ltd] that have zero across the sector which will translate into ufacturers and service providers to local
emissions strategies in place by 2050, better social value and the image of min- communities and governments,” he said.
many of the next tier and the next tier ing across Australia.” “The sector is likely to see more JVs
down from that are actually getting on The spirit of partnership extends be- going forward, making this an important
with it, but not communicating it,” Sand- yond corporate communication. One of competency area firms will likely need to
ers said. the key trends highlighted in the Deloitte build.”
“I think when you couple all that to- report was the rise of JVs on exploration
gether, which is the image of mining and projects around the world. – Mark Andrews

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