Before expanding mining operations overseas, get the fundamentals right: time zone management, local leadership, financial controls, government relations, and strategic partnerships. A practical checklist for mining executives launching international projects.
Video transcription
Understanding the Overseas Operating Environment
When you go overseas, I think there's a need to have a very good understanding of what you're about to go into.
Time Zone Challenges in Global Mining Operations
One of the things to consider is time zones. When you stretch yourself - say, for instance, a Canadian company that decides it wants to go and operate in Australia - the time zone difference is massive. That offers a challenge to being able to control or have oversight on the company.
Local Leadership and Financial Governance
In that situation, you always need to make sure you've got good leadership talent leading the operations. One of the key positions for me is who's in control of the money. Whenever you're operating offshore, you need to make sure you've got a very reliable person who really understands the money side of things and can make sure there's good controls, good oversight, and good governance when it comes to money.
Building Government Relationships
Sometimes, to try and mitigate the risks associated with being in another country, one always needs to find out who are the governments of influence in that country and to build relationships with those governments. That way, you've got good insight from those government relations about what's happening politically in the country.
The Value of Local Partnerships
The third thing I'd say is to potentially look for partnerships. A lot of times, it can be very attractive to have 100% of the benefit, but that means you're 100% responsible. Local partners sometimes can be very helpful in helping you manage some of that local content that needs to be understood and any pushback that might need to happen at times.