Committing to our Russian clients

During the past few years, AMC’s Russian workload has continued to increase. This is not a coincidence. The Russian resource industry is changing as a response to factors at play in the country, including general operating cost reductions, improved oversight of operations, maturing mines requiring increased technical input for reconciliation, geotechnical monitoring, and plant performance. And crucially, there is increased awareness by Russian professionals that operations in other countries can show alternative ways to assess and operate mines. This is an opportunity for Russian companies to learn from the experience gained by other mining companies, particularly in Australia, Canada and South Africa.

AMC has been working in Russia for more than twenty years. And as we see these changes in the industry emerging, we feel that our presence may help the industry develop and grow in a positive way. To support this increased activity, I will move to Russia to open an AMC Branch office. This office will be a gateway to the services already offered by AMC in our eight existing offices in Canada, Australia, UK and Singapore. We believe that this move will provide Russian companies and professionals with an easier avenue to link with the global network of AMC professionals to discuss client needs and to develop plans to achieve their goals.

I have observed that many Russian companies identify a role for CRIRSCO reporting standards in resource and reserve development, as well as meeting the regulatory requirements in Russia. These companies want to be a part of the global resources community and adopting a CRIRSCO standard is seen as an important step to achieving that goal. Meeting the chosen standard provides the company’s investors and shareholders with confidence in their reported assets. AMC has been active for many years in the committees that develop these standards, and brings significant expertise to clients to help adopt them.

Far from competing with the regulatory requirements, I believe that these reporting standards can coexist with the planning regulations that must be met to secure tenure and maintain operations. Ensuring that both requirements are met can ensure a better outcome for all stakeholders.

Our approach to resource modelling and Mineral Resource estimation meets the three governing principles of the JORC Code, Transparency, Materiality and Competence. Meeting these principles provides our clients and their investors with a sound basis to confidently work on optimizing projects for the benefit of the owners and the Russian people.

At AMC, we believe it is crucial to make the same consultants that have been completing assignments for Russian clients for the last 20 years available to them. So, my role will be to facilitate access to all AMC consultants so we can supply the personnel best suited to a project. I will be available to meet with clients at their offices, at their sites by arrangement, or at our office in Paveletskaya.

AMC will continue the narrative around resource development, mine planning and mine operations by again supporting the Minex Moscow conference in October. We will present the third in the on-going series of masterclass sessions at the conference. This year’s theme will be “Controlling the Life-of-Mine Planning Cycle”. AMC will have a booth at the conference this year and all those presenting will be available during and after the conference to engage clients and industry professionals in discussions on any topics of interest.

In changes to our Russian speaking team, Alan Turner recently joined our UK office. Alan has both mining engineering and geological qualifications with 15 years of experience in operations and consulting for underground and open pit operations. Prior to moving to AMC’s office in the UK, he spent four years at Lydian International in Armenia as Manager of Technical Services for the Amulsar Gold Project. Alan is a welcome addition to our team.

Unfortunately, Vadim Louchnikov has moved on from AMC to manage development of geotechnical monitoring and slope supervision functions at Polyus Gold. This role will enable him to demonstrate the latest technical advances in both monitoring and management of pit slopes in large open pit mines. We wish him all the best, and I look forward to seeing the development of these systems in the Russian environment.

I look forward to meeting more of you in the years to come to better understand the problems you face, and to assist with solutions where possible.

See you at the Minex Moscow conference again in October.