1: Introduction

I have spent most of my working life as a mining industry consultant. In this book, I put forward my views on the efficient organisation of the world mining industry. I do this as an industry insider and based on my personal practical experience. The views I express are therefore likely to differ from those of academic industrial economists who will view the mining industry from a theoretical or policy perspective.

Despite this qualification, my account is informed both by my undergraduate degree in economics and by subsequent reading in business administration. Over the past half century, business administration has succeeded in establishing itself as a recognised academic subject at the world’s major universities. It offers a range of techniques and methodologies that are equally applicable to every sector of the economy, ranging from the local convenience store to the world’s largest corporation. This body of knowledge has been commercialised by leading management consulting firms who stress that one of their key advantages is their ability to capture business insights obtained in one sector and transfer them to other sectors. To such companies, the development of industry expertise and know-how is something that may be obtained from the client, or acquired by hiring experts with specialist knowledge, or contracted out to third parties as a last resort.