Monthly Archives: June 2017

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28Jun

12 Mining Networking Hacks

Author WASMA Posted on

Kyle De Souza

Mining Engineer | Host WASMA Podcast | Philanthropist | Entrepreneur

I always get asked how I got to know so many people in the mining industry. A lot of that has to do with studying at the WA School of Mines in Kalgoorlie (WASM) and being told by my mentor to work at as many sites as possible before graduating. Right at the heart of the mining industry – my professional networking started in University. Networking was a fundamental part of being successful at WASM. I want to share with you the tips that I have learned and others have shared with me over the years on networking – I’ve put these in chronological order for the things you need to do before, during and after a meeting or event.

TIP 1.            JOIN A CLUB OF LIKE MINDED PEOPLE

There is no better way to get to know people than by joining a club. Being in a friendly environment that encourages conversation and facilitates introductions is perhaps the easiest way to network. For me it is being a member of council for the WASM Alumni. I don’t have much time to join other organisations (being FIFO 8 days on 6 days off and also starting a business in Indonesia) so for me this is where I focus my attention. There is so much truth to the governments slogan of Act, Belong, Commit. After all to build a society you need to build on relationships and those three actions are really all it takes. The same is for your network! I can recommend the WASM Alumni, AusIMM, Mining Club and Women in Mining.

TIP 2.            UNDERSTAND BODY LANGUAGE

Having a basic understanding of body language will also go a long way in determining how you steer the conversation. If you don’t know that a person looking around, tapping their foot with their foot pointing toward the door, looking around with crossed arms is wanting to leg it (away from you) – then you better get started on the basics! Once you get the basics of body language right – you can steer the conversation toward things that the other person is interested in.

TIP 3.            KNOW THE NETWORKER’S

This is a no brainer but when you know who the networkers are in a room – you can ask them to make introductions for you. Now be careful with this one because you want to know these people quite well before you do this or you might put them offside as just someone who is using them. If an event is being hosted by an organisation – events committee of the organisation will facilitate introductions if you are there to meet people if need be.

TIP 4.            BE A REGULAR

Be a regular at events at your groups. For me I only hold a membership to the WASM Alumni (www.wasma.com.au) and Australia Indonesian Business Council (AIBC) and not other organisations because I simply don’t have the time to get my money’s worth from joining them. By attending as many events as possible – I inevitably meet the same people over and over again and build a rapport with them. Being a regular also has the added benefit of you being in your comfort zone so you don’t have the looming ‘new to the room’ feeling you get when you are in unfamiliar territory.

TIP 5.            BE THE INTRODUCER

When you know people and can make appropriate connections – do it. I’ve found that by introducing people to each other not only do I get to hear about what they do again (because my memory is quite bad) but I get to help someone else out with growing their network – and that’s a nice feeling.

Just on this one – if you can see students at a networking event who look shy and are not mingling- make the effort to welcome them into conversation – who knows – later down the track they might be an employee who goes on to help you build your successful company.

TIP 6.            OFFER TO BUY

Everyone likes a drink at mining events. At any networking event for that matter. Like it or not. Having a drink with someone also reduces the formality of conversation as it gives people something to do with their hands that isn’t considered fidgeting.

TIP 7.            ASK LOTS OF OPEN ENDED QUESTIONS

No one likes to talk to a person who thinks they are the centre of the universe. If you want to get to know a person – then you have to ask them questions about themselves. Questions which can’t finish with a yes or a no and allow a person to open up to you and tell you their story. You will become interesting by finding interest in others.

TIP 8.            ASK INTERESTING QUESTIONS AND HAVE FUN

Asking someone a question that is overly personal is probably going to end up with the conversation ending pretty quickly. Likewise if your voice is at the same frequency as a drone then you’re also going to bore them to death – so have fun when you talk and ask the right questions.

Being an entrepreneur myself – I think it’s nice when people want to know how my businesses are running – however when the questions are the same as everyone else – it makes for boring conversation – and no one likes repeating themselves so you end up with a very short answer. So make sure you do your research on a person if you don’t know them and want to build a strong rapport with them.

Sponsors are always ready to meet new people (it is why they sponsor events). If you are shy and find it hard to meet people, head to them first – they are under more pressure to make conversation work so it takes the pressure of you. Once again, invites generally have who sponsors are – so do your research on them before the event so you can make for good conversation.

For the students– Don’t ask people you have only met a few times for a job! I can guarantee you they will avoid you like the plague from that moment on….until you die.

TIP 9.            DROP THE MACHO-BOYS TALK GENTLEMEN

There is a time and place for macho-dick-swinging discussions. It IS NOT at a professional networking event so leave that talk at home and be inclusive. The industry has changed and it can be an intimidating place for people of different genders, ethnicity and religion. Be mindful of this in your discussions at events.

TIP 10.            LISTEN AND REMEMBER WHAT YOU TALK ABOUT

Now if you have a memory like me – it’s easy to forget the things you talk about to people you have just met for the first time. The trick I use is I always carry a pen with me. Once I get their card and we go our separate ways I quickly write down the most important facts about them on their business card. Their hobby, family size, favourite sporting team etc.

If you are pretty savvy on your phone, Apps like Evernote allow you to take a photo of the business card and then add notes on your mobile which you can then access from any computer as it stores everything on the cloud.

TIP 11.      CONNECT ON LINKEDIN

As soon as you meet someone – add them on LinkedIn the next day. This way even if you lose the business card – you have the contact forever.

TIP 12.      SEND A FOLLOW UP EMAIL

This is a big one for me – the follow up email. It’s a nice gesture. Just keep it short because everyone has enough on their plate to read long follow up emails.

Those are my top 12 tips on networking in the mining industry and my first Article on LinkedIn. If you have any more tips I’d love to find out – so private message me.

Kyle De Souza | BEng(Mining)|BComm(Management)| First Class Mine Managers Certificate of Competency| Underground Shift Supervisors Certificate of Competency

28Jun

WASM Graduate Wins Exceptional Woman in Resources

Author WASMA Posted on

Congratulations to Michelle Keegan WASM Alumni (Vice President, Strategy & Nitrogen Optimisation (Asia Pacific)- Incitec Pivot Limited.)
who has won the Exceptional Woman in Resources Category at the Inaugural Victorian Women in Resources Awards.

Michelle studied at WASM and started her career as a mining engineer in Kalgoorlie, her career has included senior roles in value chain, commercial management, business strategy and innovation technology. Michelle started her efforts to increase diversity in the industry more than 15 years ago, she has been most active in WIMWA and WIMnet Victoria but also participated in Queensland and the UK during her time in those regions.

28Jun

Goldfields Art Centre to Close

Author WASMA Posted on

The home to Diggers & Dealers is under threat of closure after June 30th? The state government is not prepared to cover the 300,000.00 running costs of the Goldfields Centre.

The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder had been waiting on the State Government for confirmation of the agreement which would keep the GAC up and running.

The shock closure could impact the 2017 Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum, scheduled for the centre from August 7-9.

27Jun

Solider Leaves Wordy Legacy

Author WASMA Posted on
Today marks the death of Captain James Peat 100 years ago during World War I. The following was written by Curtin University archivist Elizabeth McKenzie in relation to Capt. Peat’s life Captain James Peat was born in
Melbourne on February 27, 1887, and was a mining engineer and the first surveying graduate from the Western Australian School of Mines in Kalgoorlie. While working in a bank, he studied part-time to get his mine
surveyor’s certificate and went on to become chief surveyor of the Ivanhoe Gold Mine. Capt. Peat’s original medals and papers are on display at the Western Australian School of Mines building in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
An honour board paying tribute to Capt. Peat has been fully refurbished and re-mounted in the main corridor of the Egan Street access to the campus in Building 701. Capt. Peat was a member of the army reserves, known as the
Goldfields Regiment of the Citizens Military Force, when war broke out. He signed up for the Australian Imperial Force in the rank of Lieutenant and sailed for Egypt in 1914 with the 11th Battalion.
Suffering from measles, he returned home in 1915 to recover before once again heading over- seas to battle, where he was posted to France and Belgium with the 44th battalion.
Despite further health setbacks, he remained in Europe with a tour of duty on the Western Front.
James was a keen writer and, like many soldiers, kept a diary of his letters and thoughts.

His letters describe many aspects of his time at war including thoughts about fellow soldiers who lost their lives, his own health, military tactics of the day, the training received and many musings about the enemy.
His writings describe phosgene gas attacks, barrages of shelling, the weather — snow was a novelty — and the misery of war. During time spent in England he wrote about zeppelin raids, women filling the jobs of men and the great honour of when his battalion was presented to the King. His diary also contains snippets of small pleasures about what made a good billet, having a shower and getting clean, letters from home, admiring the local architec-
ture, about getting his men settled into billets or tents whenever they arrived, keeping note of where they all were, and money not going as far as he would like.
His last entry was around June 21, 1917. Capt. Peat was killed in action by sniper fire on June 27, 1917 at the age of 29. He was buried at Westhof Farm cemetery. He left behind a widow, Mary,and a daughter, Joan
23Jun

WASM Graduate Appointed Chairman of Antler Hill

Author WASMA Posted on
Matthew Wood, currently President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Five Star Diamonds Limited has been appointed as Chairman of Antler Hill.

Matthew s an outstanding mineral resource explorer and developer with over 25 years global industry experience in mining and commodities investment. He has managed successful deals in diamonds, coal, energy, ferrous metals, base and precious metals and other commodities. His unique skills in technical and economic evaluation of resource opportunities has been proven by an impressive record of nurturing resource deals from early stage, to market listings and successful exit strategies for his investors. Mr. Wood has an Honours Degree in Geology from the University of New South Wales and a Graduate Certificate in Mineral Economics from the Western Australian School of Mines.
19Jun

Mining – Checking in on the BOOM

Author WASMA Posted on

Hedley Widdup

 Fund Manager – Lion Group

On average, the market is always right. BUT, for miners, the height of booms and nadir of the bust is where the market overshoots driven by extremes of sentiment, and at these times the market for miners is neither rational nor efficient. IE – it is Wrong. The loftier the boom and the deeper the bust, the more extreme the market overshoots. The “stronger for longer” mining boom from 1998-2008 was exacerbated by economic stimulus between 2009-2011, which along with weakening commodities led to a severe extended mining bust from 2011-2015. Previous busts have seen major miners, with best in class costs and cash flows, able to take advantage of discounted opportunities – providing liquidity into weakness and arresting the fall. However, this bust caught the major miners (as a group) with extreme debt levels and digesting peak priced acquisitions, so they not only fed the bust with discounted project sales, they were the feature of capitulation selling in 2015. As a result, this bust in particular saw miners severely oversold to a weighting in the market well below previous busts.

2016 saw a strong swing back to miners, as investors bought up major miners and gold producers. Indices bounced strongly, which is historically unusual for early in a boom. Despite this, market weightings have only just returned to levels that are consistent with start of other booms.

Bust periods create opportunity in two ways:

  • Falling equity prices – everything becomes cheaper, and eventually discounts emerge. Long falls create deep discounts. The 2011-2015 bust was so long and deep, and despite a recent flurry in the indices, many micro-cap and junior miners and aspirants still trade on depressed valuations.
  • Project development pipeline neglected as miners go on a capital expenditure strike. Short busts create a short pause in project development, but big busts create a long gap – and development assets therefore become much more attractive later in the cycle.

Gold equities benefited from industry best costs and a robust metal price in 2016. During 2017, the creeping realisation that Donald Trump would not provide the bureaucratic panacea for the US economy that the market expected has shifted expectations of interest rates and gold has gained robustness as a result. Gold equities should reflect this, but fund rebalancing by a major US gold producer ETF (the GDXJ) has resulted in gold equities temporarily underperforming the metal. This presents an opportunity in itself.

Status of the BOOM:

  • The Lion Clock remains at 7 o’clock. The IPO market has re-opened but we are still waiting for exploration to turn from a negative to positive trend.
  • Miners are in early boom phase. Index recovery so far is historically unusual, and reflects partial unwinding of extreme discounting of the bust
  • The industry is buying again. After a long period of cutting expenditure, Reserves have shrunk and development pipelines dried up. Now that balance sheets are back under control and healthy net cash has built up (particularly in gold producers) we are seeing major miners invest in, or bid to take over their smaller peers to re-stock their future production inventories. Gold equities depressed by the GDXJ effect present many lucrative potential targets, so there is a sense of looming M&A interest in gold, but the same dynamic is likely to play out across the broader industry.
  • Likelihood of a robust boom. There has been a long capital strike, which will result in supply demand imbalances and project development pipeline will be slow to restart.
  • Exploration is now restarting. Not yet enough activity to push costs up, but given time, will result in discoveries – which will have a stimulatory effect.
  • Risk is mainly macro and not mining specific. The issues shaping investor concern are centred on monetary policy – interest rates have to increase, the big question is when. This will affect all equities, miners included, and miners comparative robustness will depend on commodity prices and industry cost structures when the adjustment takes place.
15Jun

Wheels turning on gender equality in resources

Author WASMA Posted on

WASM addresses the issue Josh Chiat kal Miner

Victoria Arrowsmith, Jenny Do, Anis McGowan, Rahel Dean-Pelikan, Sarah Pemberton, Boiketo Mazibeli and WASM director Sam Spearing will welcome 25 of the brightest female high schoolers in WA to Kalgoorlie-Boulder in September as the 115-year-old institution looks at how it can address gender inequality in the resources industry.

The Western Australian School of Mines is set to welcome 25 of the brightest Year 10 girls in the State to Kalgoorlie-Boulder in September as it builds on a promise to fight gender inequality in the mining industry at the front line.Based at the Goldfields Camp School from September 25-29, it will be the second time the Focus on Mining Camp — which has been run for more than a decade in various places around the State for Years 11 and 12 — has been run for Year 10s. Last year, 18 boys and seven girls attended the WA School of Mines campus, visiting mine sites owned by Northern Star Resources, BHP Nickel West’s Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter, Gold Fields’ St Ives operations and KCGM’s Super Pit. But women make up just 28 per cent of Australia’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related workforce. That falls to just 14 per cent in engineering-related technologies,
a figure which prompted Curtin University and WASM to make the camp for girls only this year, Curtin Geoscience Outreach Officer and camp organiser Tanya Croft said. “Many young women don’t take science and engineering-related courses in Years 11 and 12 as they perceive them as too difficult or just for boys,” she said. “It’s imperative we offer them the opportunity to feel comfortable in a male-dominated in- they can be empowered and make informed decisions about their future.”
Just 15 per cent of students at the WASM Kalgoorlie-Boulder campus are female, according to WASM director Professor Sam Spearing. He said the camp, which mirrored one held in Australia’s gold capital in 1992 for Year 10 girls from as far away as Port Hedland and Albany, would prove women could take on any role they wanted in the mining industry. “Part of our problem in the industry is until we get gender equality into the universities, we can’t
get gender equality into the mines,” he said. Applications are open until July 11 and can be completed at girls focus on mining  2017.eventbrite.com.au.

 

14Jun

Boom in jobs for WA engineers with surge in activity in the mining sector

Author WASMA Posted on

Nicolas Perpitch

The number of jobs being advertised for mining engineers in Western Australia has almost doubled over 12 months, signalling what industry leaders say is renewed increase in resource activity.

The change comes after several years of downturn for many commodities in the sector, during which jobs for engineers, geologists and others have often been scarce.

According to Engineers Australia, the low point over the past decade for mining engineering jobs was in April 2016, when only 101 vacancies were recorded for the month.

However, the peak body’s latest Engineering Vacancies report shows the number of vacancies for mining engineers jumped to 188 in April 2017.

In April 2017 there were more vacancies recorded for mining engineers than any other engineering occupation in WA,” the report, which analyses Commonwealth Department of Employment figures, said.

More investment in the sector

Association of Mining and Exploration Companies chief executive Simon Bennison said there was more investment in the sector.

“You’re seeing quite a bit of activity in the merger and acquisitions phase, particularly in the situation of gold, where again you’re seeing companies buy into smaller operations to get them through the development phase and up and into production,’ Mr Bennison said.

“I think that’s creating opportunities for mining engineers and the other occupations like mining managers and so forth, that are associated with that transitional phase into production.”

There are predictions the current shortage of mining engineers will grow.

Professor Sam Spearing from the Curtin University’s School of Mines said there had been a 30 per cent drop in enrolments at the school in the past two years, partly because of media reports on the downturn.

“We will probably have a shortage as we move forward, because as I say, there is this bad press, which is, in my opinion, ridiculous,” he said.

He also attributed it to the Government’s decision last year to take mining, metallurgy and petroleum off the skills occupation list, meaning foreign students could not apply for permanent residence after doing the course.

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