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tors such as Perenti and its and physical stress because they oper-
African Underground Mining ated for three months straight and that is
Services (AUMS) division obviously not industry standard.
which has a high proportion “There was a lot of pressure on fami-
of expat employees. lies back in Australia, pressure on indi-
“AUMS has a greater level viduals on sites in the region. We saw
of expats because of the that and had messages from individu-
technical challenges and als and partners in Australia who were
the training of local staff is asking what was going on and why their
more of a long-term propo- partners couldn’t come home. I think it
sition,” he said. “Expats who was a pretty extraordinary thing to say:
were usually working on 6/3 ‘I am going to stay on site not knowing
or 7/3 rosters were required when they were going to leave’. It could
in the March to June period Jeff Quartermaine have been six months, it could have been
to work away for extended a year.”
periods. We put in place not just about keeping them working but Given the hard borders in place in Aus-
measures to help them and how we can help them feel positive and tralia and parts of Africa, people move-
their families, such as sup- motivated.” ment has proven harder than equipment
port packages for families, De Leo’s point about motivation and logistics. However, companies remain
including things like home performance reflects one of the rare pos- alert to the cross-border challenges be-
repairs, etc. itives from the crisis; the ability of locally ing posed.
“We have also arranged trained employees to take on greater re- “In South Africa, we had critical sup-
nine charter flights our- sponsibility. ply issues because factories were shut
selves and worked with “It has really shown the importance down,” De Leo said. “We began investi-
clients on others. We have of our training programmes, particularly gating how we could get things fabricated
repatriated 500 people so given he limited ability we have to be or even re-fabricated but eventually we
far. When the shutdown on site,” Norwell said. “The leadership didn’t have to as the borders reopened.
came, the problem with our base regularly visits Africa but because There have been other situations where
reliance on general aviation they have not been able to, we have em- we would usually send in a team of our
became quite stark.” powered our people there and they have own inspectors to inspect work, but we
Barnes is clearly proud of shown their capability and responded have had to use local groups, which has
the coordinated response of to the accountability we are placing on added a small element of uncertainty.”
the Australian companies, them. Norwell said Perenti had moved early
contractors and government
in West Africa.
“What you see now is
reasonably good coopera- I think it was a pretty extraordinary thing
tion on the charter flights “
coming in and out of West to say: ‘I am going to stay on site not
Africa,” Barnes said. “While knowing when they were going to leave’.
Perenti might be the lead
company Resolute in Mali, It could have been six months, it could have
Perseus in Cote d’Ivoire been a year.
and all of the other services
companies are jumping in
and getting people on their
flights in and out of West Africa. I think a “Thanks to our people providing that to negate any supply chain disruptions.
positive to come out of COVID has been continuity, we have been able to continue “On the supply chain we looked at vari-
a lot of more industry-wide cooperation to deliver and operations are going ex- ous scenarios around the possible dura-
than there was in the past.” tremely well. tion of the pandemic and the impact on
De Leo said it had been relationships De Leo has seen a pivot to finding lo- operations and commodity prices, en-
which had seen his company successful- cal opportunities for Lycopodium’s vari- suring we had indicators on shipping and
ly move people between sites and home. ous offices. aviation and the manufacturing of sup-
“There are logistical issues around “Due to issues of mobility we are fo- plies required,” he said.
charters, etc and it has added complex- cusing on domestic work for a number “We are running a level of inventory
ity but we have managed because of the of jurisdictions and domestic solutions which is higher in Africa anyway. We in-
relationships,” he said. “We have worked regarding things like sub-contractors and creased this as COVID-19 took hold and
to understand that complexity and how to supplies,” some borders were closed for a period.
top up and replace teams on projects.” Askew has been impressed by the Botswana for instance – where we have
Like Norwell, De Leo has been insist- level of commitment employees have the mining contract at [Cupric Canyon
ent on ensuring the mental health of staff shown in the West African mining opera- Ltd’s] Zone 5 copper mine – relies heav-
is supported. tions. ily on freight coming through South Af-
“I have been singularly impressed by “A lot of people put up their hand and rica but there were periods when the bor-
the reaction of our employees, not just offered to stay on site for longer periods; der was shut completely. It is open again
expats but those from our host communi- they deserve a lot of credit. They were now, but we continue to keep a high level
ties in Cote d’Ivoire and elsewhere. It is put under a fair amount of psychological of inventory.”

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