Mining and Exploration

The finest rubies are rarer and more valuable than diamonds and for many the icy brilliance of the latter is no match for the colour, warmth and romance of the former. Their prices are on the rise too: the record of just under $275,000 per carat set in 2005 has since risen to over $550,000. The world’s richest source of fine rubies, Burma, is still under an embargo and the market is hungry for gemstones of that quality, particularly if they can be certified ethical.

“Let’s put it this way, junior miners have had quite the challenging time over the last two years.” Those are the words of John Gravelle, Partner and Global Mining Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), when questioned about what life has been like for the junior mining sector, both in Canada and beyond.

Regrettably, the issue of conflict minerals is not a new one. Even more regrettable is the fact that minerals mined in conditions of armed conflict and human rights abuses continue to find their way to market.

Announcing first half figures that showed a swing back into the black with a net profit of $1.72 billion for the period compared to a $9.39 billion loss in the first half last year,Glencore declared an interim dividend of $0.06 a share. It now plans to return $1 billion to investors over the next six months through a share buyback.

Sierra Gorda is one of the largest and fastest-developed mining projects in the world. Operated by Polish company KGHM International, it is a joint venture between majority partner KGHM, Sumitomo Metal Mining and the Sumitomo Corporation. The mine is located in the Antofagasta region within the Atacama Desert, which is Chile’s largest copper producing region.

Though Tata had been selling vehicles into the Zambian market for many years prior to that through dealership agreements, it was in 1978 that the Indian industrial giant first established a company based there. This was the first to be set up in the entire continent, and though today the group's African headquarters is in South Africa, and no fewer than 14 countries have their own Tata subsidiary, Tata Zambia, which also looks after neighbouring Malawi where it has a branch office, remains the deepest ingrained and most diverse of all national subsidiaries.

Nickel may be one of the most common elements in the earth's crust but that does not mean that it is the most accessible. Unlike some metal commodities, the global supply of nickel is concentrated in a handful of regions of the world. According to the US Geological Survey, in 2011 Russia was the world’s largest producer of nickel followed by Canada, Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

“Quattro was incorporated in 1993 and is the brainchild of its founders, Graham White and Dimitri and George Klironomos,” explains Administration Manager, Sanjika Phiri. “Beginning life with just a single eight seat minibus, Graham surrounded himself with a strong management team, and together with the company’s employees built it into the business that it is today, a multi-million dollar operation with a fleet of more than 500 vehicles.”

The Vale do Rio Doce in Brazil is doubtless an idyllic place beauty as its name, valley of the peaceful river, implies. However the now more prosaically named Vale is a global company with which readers of Business Excellence are very familiar, most recently in our coverage of Vale's coal mining operations in Mozambique – and indeed, Wales.