We can no longer 'turn on the tap'

摘要

However, this time it is very different indeed. "Why is that?" Well, the main reason why the tap cannot be turned on full bore is that we had this period between 1998 and 2002 where there was only modest investment in our industry. As a consequence, resource industry teams were disbanded and professionals either left the industry entirely to set up other businesses, or they went to the "dark side" (the finance sector) where I now toil. Of course, accessing the "dark side" is a necessary evil for those who need funding, market exposure and (hopefully) an increased share price, but it has taken some of our best brethren from the coal face where decisions, both simple and complex - such as where to drill and how to line up a rig - are taken. It is not only the geologists, engineers, geophysicists, surveyors and technicians who have left the mining industry, but also those individuals and companies that used to manufacture the ball mills, CIL circuits, trucks and even tyres.