When do you need a consultant in mining? Striking the balance between in-house experience and external support

The presentation by Adrian Penney during the 2025 Consultants Society Forum delivered a comprehensive overview of the strategic role consultants play in the mining sector. Below is the summary of the key insights:

The importance of consultants in mining

Mining projects are complex, with high stakes involving technical challenges, regulatory scrutiny, environmental risks, and significant financial implications. Sound decision-making is crucial, and consultants can provide expert input at critical stages of a project’s lifecycle.

In-house teams offer the following:

• Strong internal expertise
• Familiarity with routine tasks and challenges
• Cost-effectiveness and alignment with long-term operations
• Familiarity with regulatory and annual reporting
• Knowledge retention and flexible timeframes.

In-house teams excel when the organisation has the necessary skills and resources for ongoing operations.

Signs you need a consultant:

• Facing technical or regulatory challenges beyond internal capacity
• Need for independent peer review or validation
• Resource or skills gap in the team
• Tight deadlines or resource limitations
• Requirement for novel or highly specialised knowledge.

Consultants are invaluable when unique expertise or an objective perspective is required.

Organisations often engage consultants for various reasons, including conducting feasibility studies and overseeing commissioning processes. They may also seek external expertise for geotechnical failure investigations, mine closure and rehabilitation efforts, regulatory compliance reviews, and strategy optimisation or performance reviews. Additionally, consultants are brought in to develop ESG (environmental, social, and governance) and social strategies.

Engaging consultants provides several benefits, such as access to global experts and best practices, as well as an independent and objective perspective. Their cross-sector experience fosters innovation, and their involvement allows for the flexible deployment of resources. Consultants also offer risk management solutions and promote a collaborative approach that helps upskill internal teams.

To find the right consultant, it is essential to clearly define your project needs, review their credentials and track record, ensure they align with your values and goals, collaborate effectively with your team, and prioritise communication, transparency, and adaptability.

To make the relationship work, it’s important to set clear expectations and scopes, foster collaboration with internal teams, monitor performance and adapt as needed, build trust for long-term partnerships, and use consultants to complement—not replace—internal talent.

Conclusion

Consultants are strategic assets when used effectively. The key is engaging the right expertise at the right time, with careful planning and integration to accelerate outcomes and reduce risk.

For more details please watch the full presentation here https://player.vimeo.com/video/1117695819