Numbers in quality trump numbers in quantity

THE CONFERENCE CALLER: The mining industry is – like most others – fascinated, perhaps to the point of obsession – with numbers.

It makes sense then that the media contingent that follows it around is as equally fixated on how the industry uses them.

So the big question in the media room at the Diggers & Dealers Conference in Kalgoorlie this week has been, ‘how many delegates have shown up this year?’

The answer has been fairly obvious – physically not as many as the past few years, in fact probably far fewer than conference organisers are prepared to admit.

Speaking with some of regular Diggers & Dealers chums, The Roadhouse has heard some interesting observations in regards to the quality of delegates, rather than the number of them, and how many sausage rolls they have managed to munch through in three days.

One delegate said he had been surprised by the number of fund managers he had seen this year, saying it was the biggest turn out of said money people he had seen in Kalgoorlie for many years.

This was supported by another well-credentialed industry maven, who said she was not surprised to see them all in town.

She explained that many money managers were under pressure from their investors to actually get out of the office and find projects to invest in, as too many of them have been hibernating for the past three years as appetite for risk and investment dried up.

That appetite is now causing many investor tummies to grumble, especially with so many junior exploration companies sitting on projects with a great deal of potential they are struggling to advance, simply because money is not being thrown about with the same reckless abandon it was during the wild boom cycle days.

All this complemented another tale we heard from a mining company executive about the manager of a small mining contracting firm he had been speaking with.

It turns out the mining contractor could not be happier with the current state of play in the industry.

As perverse as it may sound the company is doing a lot better for itself the less work it has to do.

According to our source, the contractor has less work to do, which means they have more time to actually concentrate on their costs.

They don’t have to hire as many people and the people they do hire are, for them, the best teams they can put together.

Not all the company’s equipment is in use, which again the contractor sees as a positive as this means if a machine or truck breaks down, there is a spare in the car park ready to go and repairs can be carried out properly without a mad sense of urgency, which can lead to a shoddy job, causing more damage to the machinery and even more down time for the mining project.

So, even though the numbers aren’t as big as they have been, Diggers & Dealers 2015 could potentially be the conference that in years to come that will be like the Sex Pistols played their first gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester.

Everybody will say they were there, but only those who were really there will know what happened.