AMC Consultants has undertaken over 8,000 projects in over 100 countries. What has been key to AMC’s success over the years?

The key driver for AMC’s success is quality and the repeat business we have fostered through this. Over time, the company has grown organically to a large extent, but expansion has been accelerated by investment decisions to expand into North America, the United Kingdom, Asia and Russia. We believe we have seen significant growth as our clients come back to us for quality advice as well as trust in our offering. Being a trusted advisor is one of AMC’s goals in the business field that we operate in. We are an international consultancy. As an illustration of this, approximately 50% of our work done from our Perth office is based on Western Australian projects and 50% are international projects.

How has AMC’s service offering evolved over the last five years?

We still have our traditional services, but we have expanded our portfolio over the years. Scoping, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies are still core pillars in our business. These are based on a range of disciplines that we offer such as geology, geotech, hydrogeology, mining engineering and follow up work with mining companies to help them improve their performance. The company is also involved in project based, individual type work within these disciplines, but we prefer to be involved in projects from the discovery phase all the way through. We also have a corporate division where we are involved in work relating to corporate activity, such as mergers and acquisitions and work that requires independent expert opinions.

AMC also offers operational type advice, which we call our IMPROVE offering. We will do performance diagnostics, which involves evaluating how an operation or company is performing, after which we will identify opportunities for improvement. The diagnostics phase includes benchmarking and an operational health check combined with cost estimation so that we not only identify the improvement opportunities but also quantify improvement potential. As an ongoing service, we are also involved in online monitoring of improvement programs for our clients.

Going into the mining cycle upturn, how has the demand for your services changed?

There is more demand in the current market, but it is not yet at a level which we would like it to be. There has been a significant amount of specific interest with regards to AMC’s benchmarking services, but we actually experienced high demand during the downcycle as many companies were looking to improve their operations and cut costs during the down times.

What are the key challenges impacting Australia’s mining industry at this current moment?

Over the last 18 months, we have had an increase in enquires with regards to skill sets and secondments, and we can assist clients with regards to the shortage they are experiencing in Western Australia. The skills shortage remains a challenge. There were only about 10 mining graduates from UWA in 2018, which used to be approximately 30 in previous years. Across the country, the institutions training mining professionals have seen reductions, and this is now reflected in the skills shortage the mining industry in Australia is experiencing.

What is AMC’s expectation for Australia’s mineral deposits over the next two years?

Copper is of specific interest at this stage and will most probably experience a boom within the near future. Globally, the available supply will soon not be able to meet the market demand, but this has been the forecast for a few years. Lithium is also very strong at the moment, and there are a significant number of projects now coming online. Iron ore is currently a very strong industry and the price is much higher than previously forecast. The gold price remains strong and this is an important commodity for Western Australia.

What is AMC’s vision and growth strategy moving forward and could you provide a final message to our international readership?

AMC has recently opened an office in Russia, and we have seen many opportunities there as they are trying to improve their mining industry. Our aim remains to offer quality services to our clients. There is further growth potential for the company in Northern America, we are especially interested in growing our Toronto office in the near term. Our Singapore office will remain our gateway to the Asian market. Ultimately, we would like to expand and grow our business in an organic and responsible way.

AMC is an international consultancy firm, experienced in all different jurisdictions. We have significant industry experience in many disciplines and our aim is to offer the best quality services to our clients, who benefit from using us.