The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) is one of the premier international events for the mining industry. PDAC is held annually in Toronto in early March. 

PDAC is the world’s largest mining and exploration convention, with more than 24,000 attendees this year from across the globe. Participants from the Americas, Africa, Europe and elsewhere brave the inclement weather to travel to Toronto in March for deal making and to promote doing business in their respective countries. This year RCF had a 20-person strong contingent from our Denver, Toronto, and Santiago offices in attendance.

A happy coincidence is that our Toronto office is a mere five minute walk from the convention centre. This enables us to have companies come to our office, rather than scrambling to find a place to meet (which can be a challenge during the convention). We can efficiently meet with management teams, investment bankers and commodities consultants on our “home turf”, increasing the number of people we can connect with over the course of the convention.

For the second straight year, RCF hosted a booth on the trade show floor, the only investment fund to do so.  Tucked in between big and small mining companies alike, we were a magnet for companies that were in search of capital for advancing their projects. We also find the booth attracts numerous individuals who are curious about a career in private equity. We are more than happy to spend some time with them, as it is an ideal opportunity for recruiting and to highlight some of the university programs we support through scholarships and internships. We also held our seventh annual dinner in which 60 guests had an opportunity to catch up and discuss our sector. Given the dinner’s informal setting and the close knit nature of the business, most invitees make time in their busy PDAC schedules to attend our event every year.

The mood at PDAC this year was the polar opposite of a year ago. Last year the sector was four years into a prolonged industry slump. The mood was subdued, with many smaller exploration companies scrambling to find “keep the lights on” funding. This year’s sentiment was considerably more buoyant, with many companies focused on renewed exploration spending and a desire to replace and grow their resource bases. Some capital is slowly becoming available to the sector after a long hiatus and a new sense of optimism for the future is palpable.

Private equity will continue to invest in the mining industry

 RCF has been investing in mining for nearly 20 years, through good times and through tough times. This is what we do. We are a group of mining professionals who are in this for the long run. The opportunity set is broad and deep and there are always great projects to invest in, regardless of where we are in the investment cycle.

We have found that the private equity style of investment is well suited to investing in the mining space. We are a source of patient capital and are comfortable operating in this cyclical industry.

RCF is very active in Canada

 RCF has carried out a tremendous amount of investment activity in Canada both in the past and more recently. Several of our larger deals in RCF VI, the current fund, are in Canada — TMAC Resources and Riversdale Resources.

RCF recognizes Toronto as a global financial hub for the mining industry and understands the importance of having a physical presence here, especially given the number of mining companies in Toronto. RCF is here for the long haul, and we will keep working with companies that have great assets and strong management teams to maximise the value of those assets for all stakeholders.

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Jeff Mills is a Managing Director at RCF and Global Head of Investor Relations. Jeff joined in May 2016 and is responsible for managing the communication with all of RCF’s investors.

I knew RCF to be a leading firm in the private equity space through a number of different limited partner relationships; and when I learned about the company’s desire to have its first Investor Relations professional, I jumped at the opportunity. I had previously worked in a number of third party and in-house marketing roles, and the thought of building up an Investor Relations group in a formalised fashion, was what attracted me to join and to take on the role.

Jeff’s day to day role involves interacting with more than 100 investors from different geographies, with the majority based in North America, some in Europe and in Asia.

I am responsible for all client interactions between RCF and its investors. The conversations held with investors cover a variety of topics including RCF’s current portfolio and understanding the information needs of our investors. The ultimate goal is helping our limited partners by making their interactions with RCF efficient and informative.

My expertise is in private equity investor relations and although I wasn’t that familiar with the mining industry before joining RCF, I must say that I have found it an invigorating challenge to be working with the team here. The resources industry has a key role in the economy and in the world more broadly and the expression “It’s either mined or grown” is very accurate. Every single day we are using something that has been mined. This is probably intuitive for someone in Australia, where we have our Perth office, but it’s not necessarily so to someone based in North America.

With the new role in place at RCF, Investor Relations has a more centralized function now.

Before I joined RCF, the Investor Relations role was primarily managed by James McClements, Ross Bhappu and other colleagues. It was a shared function across a number of people and RCF wisely decided that they needed a person to handle this on a regular basis and in a more formulaic manner. By creating this role for me, RCF now has a centralized function and I like to think that I have brought some fresh ideas on how to interact with investors.

Jeff has travelled extensively during the last eight months in order to meet with a broad number of RCF’s Limited Partners.

During the last eight months I have been travelling to meet with our investors and to better understand how we can work with them and help answer all their questions and needs. I have been working on a number of really interesting projects over the last year and engaging with all our investors, taking the opportunity to share the RCF story and explaining how we are working to source portfolio companies and create value for them. As we are private equity focused, the commitment from investors is over a number of years and not just a short term investment opportunity. All of our investors are here for the medium to long term which we believe makes us a more attractive source of capital. Given the term of commitment from our investors, open and frequent engagement and communication is key.

In terms of other mining private equity funds, there are only a handful.

There definitely aren’t many private equity firms that specialize in mining, especially relative to more traditional PE firms. I expect that this will change overtime as funds that specialize in mining become more common practice. However, this shows that there is an opportunity to help with educational engagements with the investor community explaining what mining focused private equity is, how we do it and why it works for portfolio companies.

The people and the technical expertise is what sets RCF apart

Since joining, what was immediately clear from the start was the great group of people at RCF. Everyone has a very positive attitude, wanting to help grow and develop the portfolio companies. As a new member of the team, I was immediately drawn towards the open, collegial environment and the culture here.

In my view people make a significant difference in a business, especially in both mining and private equity. The team at RCF has the right perspective about working hard and keeping key stakeholders needs at the forefront of their mind. This is the biggest differentiator across the board of any organization.

It’s also great to see colleagues who are really passionate about what they do. My colleagues are specialists, many are engineers, geologists, metallurgists or other mining specialists; they are experts by nature, in fact some are so passionate about mining they not only do it as a job but also in their spare time as a hobby. There are many people in the firm who work Monday to Friday and then spend their Saturday and Sunday looking for new projects and checking out different rock samples. Mining is a genuine passion here.

Prior to joining RCF in May 2016, Jeff held positions in fundraising and client services at various private equity firms.

I had been working in a role similar to this one for the last 15 years. I have worked with groups that started from investment banks to third party marketing firms. I was recently the Managing Director at Brooklands Capital Strategies, a division of TPG and Ares Management. Prior to that, I was the Head of Investor Relations and Marketing at Oak Hill Capital, and I started in the industry at global investment bank Probitas Partners.

I have worked in a variety of functions doing both primary, secondary and structured transactions, portfolio updates and client services, and I now have the chance to transfer some of this knowledge gained into my current role.

Jeff holds a B.S. degree in Mathematical Economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an M.B.A from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. After graduating from the United States Military Academy, he served in the United States Army as an aviation officer.

The Army is, of course, somewhat different from private equity but there are so many similarities to Investor Relations. Investor Relations is very much about clear communication, being disciplined and organised and always putting others’ needs ahead of yours. Many of these skills are very common in the army and they are certainly well suited in Investor Relations.

Jeff has lived in various cities and met his wife during his time in the army. They now have two kids and are based temporarily in San Francisco.

I am from Western Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh. I was raised there and then went to university in New York. I then spent seven years in the US army and was stationed in New York, Alabama, South Korea, Colorado, Arizona and then Kentucky and Tennessee. While stationed in Colorado I met my wife — that’s our family connection to Colorado outside of RCF’s Denver office.

I have two sons who keep me very busy, one is 13 and the other one is 10. We spend a lot of time together, supporting them in their sports and hobbies, which is what I really enjoy doing in my spare time.

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Mason Hills is a Partner and Investment Team Leader at RCF. Mason is originally from Perth, Western Australia, and started his career in law

I studied economics at the University of Western Australia before going on to do a graduate law degree at Murdoch University.

After graduating, I went to work for a commercial law firm focused on practicing in corporate and securities law, and project financing, in the resources sector. While I was there, I spent a year working at the Federal Court of Australia as an associate to a Judge. When I returned from working with the Judge, I continued my career in the project finance section of the law firm until 1999.

In 1999, myself and one of the partners of the law firm at the time, decided to start our own practice with a focus on project finance, and we acted predominantly for borrowers and smaller lenders.

Mason has advised RCF since 1999 and joined in an in-house capacity in 2006

In 1999, a year after RCF’s founding and the launch of its first fund, RCF I, the organization was actively pursuing investments in Australia. I already had a relationship with some of the principals of RCF from my previous firm, so when they required legal work in Australia, it was a natural fit. So from 1999 until 2006, I worked as outside counsel for RCF.

In 2006, I joined RCF as their in-house lawyer in Australia. While my role was primarily legal work, my prior business relationships and established contacts in the Australian mining industry started to approach me about potential investment deals RCF could become involved with, and I found myself actively involved in leading transactions rather than doing pure legal work.

I was fortunate to be made a partner in 2009, and my focus changed dramatically from legal work to managing investments and the investment process.

Mason works on a number of deals and looks at 2-3 new opportunities on a weekly basis for RCF

As an investment team leader, I am generally responsible for 4-5 material transactions and a number of smaller transaction deals in my portfolio that I manage with my team on a day to day basis. They are the core transactions we work on. At present within those core transactions, there are two projects which have required greater team bandwidth just due to the size and complexity of them, and the work load required.

In my team we have four people – two Canadians, a Kiwi (New Zealander) and me, an Australian – all working out of the Denver office.

Regarding new projects, as a team, we look at and evaluate roughly two to three new opportunities on a weekly basis.

Mason has travelled extensively in order to oversee deal projects

There is a large amount of travelling involved with my role. I would estimate I travel around four to five months of the year. I do go back to Perth two to three times a year as RCF has an office there, and this works out well as I still have a lot of family in Perth. I also spend a fair amount of time in London, especially due to the fact that the Alufer Mining Bel Air project, a project I am currently working on, has its management team based there.

In 2012 Mason moved to the RCF office in Denver, Colorado, together with his family

In 2012, RCF thought it would be a good idea if I spent a couple of years in Denver. I moved over with my kids and enrolled them in school over here, and luckily they love it!

The lifestyle and the environment are great, and it is a good place to live. My kids enjoy their school, and my eldest daughter has just started college at Colorado University Boulder. Recently, there has been a large migration of people moving to Denver, and the city has significantly expanded. A lot of people move to Denver for the lifestyle, for the mountains, skiing and the hiking during the summer. The present intention for us is definitely to stay here.

Being involved in mining means I am often involved in a new project in an undeveloped region.  New developments touch many aspects of the communities nearby – and often provide better quality infrastructure for them (like roads, education and healthcare) – and sometimes in ways that can’t be measured with economic statistics.  I find it very rewarding being part of that process – and I take a deep interest in assisting the local communities that our projects impact.

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Alufer Mining rapidly advancing the Bel Air project in Guinea

Alufer Mining Ltd. is an independent private mineral exploration and development company headquartered in London, with significant bauxite assets in the Republic of Guinea, in West Africa. Bauxite is the main commercial mineral from which aluminium oxide is extracted, which in turn is smelted to form aluminium metal. The company is focused on the development of the Bel Air project, which is expected to commence production in 2018. Significant capital has been invested in exploration since January 2011 and substantial work programmes have been identified both at Bel Air and at Labé, which was Alufer Mining’s original bauxite asset.

The mining industry in Guinea accounts for over 70% of the country’s exports (African Business Magazine, March 2017). Guinea has deposits of bauxite, iron ore, gold, and diamonds all with significant geological potential. Guinean bauxite reserves contribute to 94% of Africa’s reserves and 25% globally. Bauxite from Guinea has certain qualities which make it useful to Chinese refineries. Medium and long term bauxite demand is high, driven by growth in key sectors including transportation, construction, and consumer products.

RCF Involvement

RCF has built a strategic partnership with Alufer Mining. RCF’s Fund VI was originally approached by Alufer in May 2011 for funding to conduct exploration on Bel Air, but declined due to the early stage of the project. RCF kept in contact with the Company over the next two and a half years and began to look seriously at the Project again in Q4 2013, upon the completion of its 2013 Feasibility Study. In 2013, the original management team of Alufer Mining approached RCF representative, Mike Price, in London with an intriguing project proposal. RCF was extremely interested in this project for a variety of reasons. Firstly, RCF believed the envisioned project in Guinea would have a lot of material to offer, aside from having potentially one of the biggest bauxite resources in the world. Secondly, RCF identified that the Bel Air project had an attractive logistical advantage. Generally, the majority of bauxite deposits are inland. However, the Bel Air project was unique in that it is located right on the coast. Thirdly, the deposit was of a good quality, therefore from a mining perspective, RCF believed it would be relatively easy to mine and anticipated it also could be easily exported straight away. In conducting its initial due diligence RCF identified that the company first needed to complete fundamental work to get to a satisfactory feasibility study, followed by the actual construction of the project.

As such, RCF became a key financier of the construction of the Bel Air project through its initial November 2015 investment in Alufer via a $10 million bridge loan funding completion of the Definitive Feasibility Study (“DFS”) of the Project.  After the company’s early 2016 completion of the feasibility study, RCF further extended the bridge loan and an additional $4 million was provided to the Company in September 2016.

Successful completion of project financing was completed in December 2016 in collaboration with the finance institution Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), and with specialist mining investor, Orion Mine Finance.  After significant negotiations with the Company led by RCF, a project financing package was agreed upon by the investment groups to provide US$110.0M in a combination of equity and convertible debt.

Construction activities commenced in 2017, resulting in the growth  from 15 employees to 1000 employees – over an estimated 15 month construction period.

At present, along with its ongoing financial assistance, RCF continues to assist in the facilitation of new appointments to the Company’s management team and governance committees to strengthen the expertise required for the ongoing work to fast track the project. As part of the financing package, RCF developed an independent board of directors and three separate committees:

• The first committee is the Project Development Committee, which is chaired by RCF’s Allan Brownrigg, and oversees the construction and monitors the contractors, ensuring the project is on time and on budget.
• The second committee is the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), chaired by RCF’s Allison Forrest. Community relations are fundamental as the project employs many local people and the Government of Guinea also being a major shareholder in the project.
• The final committee is the Marketing Committee, encompassing the process of setting the offtake agreements for the purchase of materials, which is chaired by RCF’s Mason Hills.

The significance of the project in Guinea

This project is very significant for the Guinean Government, who holds a 25% stake in the mine. The project is a milestone that will contribute to the development of the mining sector in Guinea, helping create around 3,500 direct and indirect jobs during its construction phase. Alufer Mining plans to extract bauxite using surface equipment that limits the negative impact on the environment and local communities; and transport will be undertaken with trucks to be loaded onto barges that deliver to vessels at sea.

The $205 million deal is one of the largest foreign investments in the country since the 2014 Ebola crisis.

The project is anticipated to be completed in September/October 2018. It has a nameplate capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum but can be easily scaled to 10 million tonnes per annum. It is one of the major projects of the Guinean Government and is of national significance, both in terms of the employment and community benefits it brings to the country.

RCF conducted significant risk work and took due diligence measures with the project. In 2014 the largest outbreak of Ebola hit multiple countries in West Africa, with Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia suffering most. Furthermore, Guinea historically had a reputation for corruption that had pervaded, in particular, the mining sector, as evidenced the international scandal involving the Simandou Project.  RCF General Counsel Cassie Boggs and RCF representative Mike Price first visited Guinea in May 2014 to conduct preliminary country due diligence in an effort to assess country risk. While in the country, RCF met with Ambassadors from the US, UK, South Africa, the Guinean Minster of Mines, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Mining Advisor to the President, the IFC, and along with other Guinean governmental, international-affairs, and business representatives. In parallel, RCF also engaged a London based law firm with significant experience in West Africa and Guinea to assist in certain legal due diligence, and a political risk consultant with extensive experience in Guinea to review and update political risks, conduct inquiries and to consider certain specific issues regarding the application and enforcement of environmental standards and regulations in Guinea, corruption issues, and issues of general political stability.

After the conclusion of its diligence, RCF was pleased to find that President Conde and Minister of Mines Kerfalla had demonstrated decisive governmental leadership in combating corruption, by requiring an unprecedented level of transparency in regards to the review and issuance of mining licenses, including the publication of all mining agreements on the Internet. RCF continues to monitor the country’s anti-corruption climate along with Alufer’s actions in Guinea through internal due diligence and third party consultants to ensure it maintains its strict procedures and complies with all local and international laws.

In February 2016, the Guinean Government and Alufer Mining signed the Mining Convention for the Bel Air bauxite project, and in his address, Prime Minister of Guinea Mr. Mamady Youla, commented “Efforts since 2010 to boost economic activity in developing countries have ended up paying off and the signing of the bauxite project Bel Air is a good example. This is a strong signal to the international community and investors. After two years of courageous struggle against Ebola, the fight against the epidemic is finally won, and the development of Guinea can resume vigorously”.

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Blast Movement Technologies wins 2017 Premier of Queensland’s Export Award

Blast Movement Technologies (BMT), a joint investment of Resource Capital Fund VI L.P. (RCF VI) and Jolimont Global Mining Systems, has won the 2017 Queensland Export Award (Minerals and Energy category). This marks the fourth consecutive year that BMT has won the prestigious award, recognising excellence in export and innovation.

Blast Movement Technologies was introduced to RCF via the relationship with Jolimont, and has been part of RCF VI portfolio since 2015.

Resource Capital Funds is proud of BMT’s performance, and considers the award an endorsement of BMT’s and Jolimont’s efforts in marketing the technology.

The award highlights the importance of innovative technology blasting solutions to optimizing processes while reducing ore loss and dilution. RCF is proud to support a technology which directly benefits the mining industry.

“It is a surprise and honour to be recognised again for our innovation and export focus”, said Jacques Janse, CEO of Blast Movement Technologies. “In 2017 we expanded our teams in Africa and the Americas. A new sales and support office in Accra (Ghana) enables us to better support our customers throughout Africa. We have also increased the number of consultants in the Americas and expect to see a growth in our customer base in 2017/18.”

https://www.tiq.qld.gov.au/awards/winners/2017-export-award-winners/

About BMT

Blast Movement Technologies (BMT) helps resource companies significantly increase ore yield and minimize dilution through a unique solution that accurately measures 3-dimensional blast movement.

BMT’s blast movement monitoring (BMM) system is designed and manufactured in Brisbane and exported to customers throughout Australia, Africa, Europe, North and South America.

BMT works with the top nine gold producers and the top three, Barrick, Newmont and AngloGold Ashanti, have adopted the BMM system as their corporate standard for grade control. The BMM System has been fully implemented at more than 80 mines, in 34 countries, for use in all commodities, including copper, gold, iron ore, nickel, platinum, silver and zinc.

www.bmt.com.au/

Caption: Blast Movement Technologies’ Brisbane team were winners at the 2017 Premier of Queensland’s Export Awards

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Cassie Boggs is the General Counsel at RCF. Cassie joined in January 2011 and is responsible for all legal matters involving RCF and all of its funds.

I joined RCF, succeeding its first General Counsel, Brian Dolan, to manage all the legal matters related to the management company and all of our funds. I am the head of the legal department which comprises eight people: five in Denver and three in Perth. In Denver, we have a Staff Counsel, the Chief Compliance Officer, a Compliance Analyst, an Executive Assistant for the whole group, and myself. In Perth, we have two senior lawyers who act as Legal Counsel, Australia, in addition to a EA/legal assistant.

As RCF is a Registered Investment Advisor, it is governed by US securities laws. Therefore, RCF needs a compliance function, and this is a function that continues to grow.

The Staff Counsel, Matt Thompson, and I predominately work with the deal teams out of North & South America, while investment work for deals generated out of our Australian office is the responsibility of the Australian Legal Counsel. As lawyers, we are involved in all of RCF’s investment deals, including assisting with legal and country due diligence, documenting the deals, and negotiations when required.

We have worked on a number of large deals, and a big part of my job has both a legal and business component to it.  In addition, the legal group assists the finance, tax, HR and the COO on a variety of matters affecting the management company.

Cassie has a specific focus on country due diligence, political risk and corruption risks. She works hand in hand with the investment teams in these areas.

In addition to assisting the investment teams with legal due diligence, I also assess and assist in managing political and corruption risks, in part because of my background.  I lived and practised law in a variety of jurisdictions, including Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Indonesia, London and Tanzania, so I have had practical experience in those and surrounding countries in identifying and assessing the types of risks that have the potential to impact our funds’ investments and RCF’s reputation.

Cassie was previously an international partner at the law firm of Baker & McKenzie, where she worked in the firm’s San Francisco, Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Chicago offices. She travelled extensively for work as her professional career has had a specific focus on the global natural resources sector.

Over the last 35 years, I have had the opportunity to work on a lot of natural resources related transactions all over the world, which has been a great job for a girl from Aurora, Colorado who thought her law practice was going to be focused only on the American West. I am a fifth-generation Coloradoan, and since Colorado has a long history of mining, it was very natural for me to start working within the natural resources space with a particular interest in mining. I was a partner at Sherman & Howard in Denver where I began my career before moving to Baker McKenzie, an international law firm with offices all over the world. The company asked me to assist with the opening of its office in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 1994, since much of the anticipated work would be for mining and oil and gas clients. From Kazakhstan, I then worked in Indonesia. Both Indonesia and Kazakhstan were big mining jurisdictions.

During my time at the firm, I learned a lot about different legal systems outside of North America, where the majority of business is done by the relationships people have as there is often no independent judicial system that people trust and the words in a contract are not necessarily always upheld. Therefore, my experience taught me a great lesson in understanding how people do business around the world.

After Baker & McKenzie, in 2005 Cassie joined Barrick Gold Corporation, moving from a lawyer role to a business role.

After Baker & McKenzie, I joined Barrick Gold as Vice President, Corporate Development, where I moved from a legal role to a business role. I was brought into their Corporate Development group to facilitate transactions, but my work expanded to assisting in the management of acquisitions and certain of the company’s assets.

When I was at Barrick Gold, we took over Placer Dome, and that’s when the firm became the largest gold company in the world. This was a huge transaction and a fascinating one.

I was also involved in negotiating agreements with the Government of Pakistan, and at one point, I was the CEO of our Pakistan Joint Venture, trying to develop a mining project, so I spent a year in Pakistan, living in Islamabad.

Back then, Barrick Gold was winding up its African assets to list them into a separate company. So for a period of time, I was the regional head of the African business unit, and from there I helped put together the listing of what became African Barrick Gold, now Acacia Mining. After that, I was its first General Counsel before I moved to Toronto, and then subsequently back to Denver.

Cassie joined RCF after having spent many years abroad, and the firm has grown significantly since she first joined.

My encounter with RCF was through Brian Dolan who was the previous General Counsel, and who introduced me to James McClements.

I was attracted to the firm as I saw private equity as a very interesting sphere. Private equity has transformed the resources sector by offering a new opportunity to raise capital in a different way than offered by banks.

RCF has more than doubled in size since I joined the firm. When I started, there were approximately 20 people in the Denver office and less than 50 people worldwide, while now there are over 50 in North America and more than 90 globally. Since I came on board, we have added an office in Santiago, and an office opened just before I joined in Toronto. So, in a relatively short space of time, RCF went from having three offices to five.

After many years abroad, Cassie was keen to get back to Denver.

Working at RCF was a chance for me to also come back to Denver after almost 20 years, which is where I am originally from.

I am a skier and an outdoor person, I love Denver’s weather, it has four seasons. The city is the right size, and it’s where I grew up. I’ve lived in a lot of great places, so when I thought of the place where I wanted to settle, Denver was home.

Cassie has an undergraduate degree (Economics) and a law degree from the University of Denver and a Masters degree in Resource Development from Michigan State University. Cassie is also a recipient of the prestigious Thompson G. Marsh Award from the University of Denver.

In the United States, you have to gain a four-year university degree before going into law. Afterwards, it’s three years of law school. My undergraduate degree was in Economics.

In November of last year, I was awarded the Thompson G.Marsh Award from the University of Denver. This was a great honor as it recognizes a law school graduate for their accomplishments. I am proud to be the first woman to receive this recognition.

Women in leadership positions

When I started practising law, 50% of the people I went to law school with were women. Not all of those people become partners in law firms, and there is a much smaller percentage of women who become partners in law firms. Certainly, in the mining and natural resources industry, you don’t come across as many women as you would in other fields. By the same token, when I practised in Indonesia most of the law firms were run by Indonesian women. While even Pakistan, which doesn’t have a society where women are at the forefront, appointed a woman Prime Minister earlier than many other countries in the world did. You don’t see as many women in the mining field, but personally, this has created a lot of opportunities for me.

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At the Denver University Law Stars Dinner on 2 November 2017, Cassie Boggs, Partner and General Counsel at Resource Capital Funds, was presented with the esteemed Thompson G. Marsh Award.

The award is given to an exceptional University of Denver Law graduate, based on a career of outstanding accomplishments and achievements. Cassie received the award after her achievements throughout her 35-year career, and she is one among its eight recipients since 1997.

The Thompson G. Marsh accolade is awarded periodically based on the merit of a deserving candidate as determined by the Sturm College of Law Alumni Council, the DU Law Stars nominating committee and the Dean of the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver.

The award is quite an accolade, and Cassie is the first woman to receive this honor.

“I’m extremely humbled to receive this prestigious award. I’ve always been very fond of the University of Denver, both as a result of receiving my undergraduate and my law degree here”, Cassie Boggs said. “If I look back at my career, there are so many people that I’ve had the great privilege to work with in a variety of different countries; and my career has been defined by taking on board the many great opportunities presented to me. I would like to thank the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law for the recognition, and I am also extremely humbled to be the first woman to receive this accolade”.

The following link shows a video of Cassie following the 2017 Thompson G. Marsh Award  https://vimeo.com/241577580

Caption: The 2017 DU Law Stars (from left) were Adam Agron, John Sadwith, Cassie Boggs, Kira Suyeishi and Nancy Ehrenreich

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RCF were the proud sponsors of the Schulich International Case Competition (SICC) held in Toronto on March 3, 2018. RCF has been a long-time supporter of the case competition which focuses on mining and sustainability. This year’s case focused on how mining projects, which operate in politically unstable countries, should manage corruption and equitable wealth distribution.

RCF offers scholarships at Schulich School of Business, The University of Western Australia Business School (UWA) and Colorado School of Mines (CSM), of which each school had a team participate in SICC. The CSM and UWA teams were mentored by RCF for the competition and both teams did a fantastic job. CSM were awarded first prize and UWA awarded third prize – therefore a great achievement overall.

The quality of presentations was extremely high and the CSM team, which included RCF intern Phillip Ruban, and past RCF intern, Alex Campbell, prevailed with a comprehensive case that demonstrated a solid understanding of the key issues at hand.

SICC provides students with the opportunity to discuss real-life business challenges, bringing together a collection of innovative and pragmatic solutions. The case competition also provides RCF with an opportunity to demonstrate its ongoing interest and commitment to education, especially as it relates to the importance of sustainability in mining. As a Gold Sponsor, RCF features prominently in the marketing of the event and remains the only investment firm that supports the competition.

RCF Partner and Managing Director Canada, David Thomas, said “The competition is a recognition of the importance of supporting the next generation of mining leaders, as well as the ever-increasing need to incorporate innovative thinking into sustainability and mining. Understanding how to allocate capital to a wide range of initiatives will ensure sustainability today and well into the future”, he said.

“RCF has been supportive of this event for several years, both as a sponsor and as judges for the event, comprised of Allison Forrest, Jessie Liu-Ernsting and myself. The format this year was modified in such a way that there was only one judging round and a smaller number of teams, providing greater interaction between the teams and the 15 judges through an extended Q&A period”, David added.

“RCF is proud of the fantastic work from all of the teams. This is a unique competition which allows students from around the world to display their innovation and talent and apply their knowledge to real-life challenges occurring in the mining industry”, he concluded.

The CSM 2018 team was called ‘Ubia Madini’, meaning Mining Partnership in Swahili, and comprised Phillip Ruban (captain), Alex Campbell, Marko Visnjic and Emilio Castillo. UWA, the defending champion, were third-place finishers this year, behind a strong performance from the University of Toronto. The team from UWA comprised Bindi Shah, Scott Robertson, Rebecca Shanahan and Henry Bromfield.

Teams included representatives from schools such as UWA, CSM, University of Toronto, York University, and Simon Fraser University from Vancouver, BC.

The annual Schulich International Case Competition is organised by the MBA students at Canada’s York University and coincides with the start of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada held every March in Toronto.

Above Photo Caption: UWA team (from left) Henry Bromfield, Bindi Shah, Rebecca Shanahan and Scott Robertson

Cover Photo Caption: CSM team (from left) Emilio Castillo, Marko Visnjic, Alex Campbell and Phillip Ruban

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Resource Capital Fund VI L.P. is an investor in Alufer Mining Ltd, a private company nearing the completion of construction at its Bel Air bauxite project in the Republic of Guinea. This video, which was funded by the International Finance Corporation and directed by a young African film producer, highlights the strategic partnerships which have been developed between Alufer and local communities to develop skills and sustainable businesses which aim to strengthen long-term community development.

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Alufer Mining reaches 3-million man-hours without a Lost Time Injury  

Alufer Mining Ltd marked a significant safety record, achieving 3-million man-hours without a Lost Time Injury (LTI) on its Bel Air bauxite project in Guinea. No LTI has occurred since construction activities commenced on site in January 2017.

Resource Capital Fund VI L.P. has been a strategic partner to Alufer since 2015, with RCF Senior Associate, James Rattenbury and RCF Senior Project Director, Allan Brownrigg proud to present an RCF Safety Recognition to Alufer and its contractors at a safety meeting.

“This was the first time we have ever seen such a creative and enthusiastic safety message put together by workers which included a live demonstration complete with a safety cheer squad,” RCF’s James Rattenbury commented. “The demonstration dealt with several safety hazards and since it was presented in a visual form it resonated and was retained by the many people from Alufer and its four contractors – with a total of about 600 people in attendance,” he added.

Caption: (from left) James Rattenbury, RCF Senior Associate, Allan Brownrigg, RCF Senior Project Director, Phillip Nell, Bel Air Mining Acting H&S Manager, Gawie van der Westhuizen, DRA Construction Manager and Enna Borman, DRA HSE Manager

The no-LTI achievement is a challenging feat in any developed country let alone at Bel Air given the diverse workforce of the project with 1,400 employees, of whom over 660 are from “Impacted Villages”, 540 are from Guinea, and 261 foreign expats. Three different languages are spoken on site, including French, English and the local Susu dialect. The safety culture put in place is commendable, and recognizing this achievement reinforces the benefits of continued emphasis on safety.

Allan Brownrigg said: “Having attained 3-million man-hours without an LTI is very impressive at any job, but when you consider that this was achieved in a remote location with people on site speaking different languages and with diverse experience in construction, it is truly an amazing accomplishment. This is something of which all the staff at Alufer should be extremely proud.”

Good housekeeping and observance of safety signing were evident throughout Alufer’s major project work sites – a 28 km haul road from the future mine pits to the port; the stockpile/export facility; and the ore load-out causeway (photo below). Alufer’s Bel Air bauxite project remains on schedule and on budget to date, with first ore expected to be shipped in August 2018.

Caption: Ore load-out causeway

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RCF proudly announced the sponsorship of Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Western Australia’s 2019 Director Pipeline Program (DPP) at the 2018 DPP Wrap Reception held in Perth on 6 September 2018.  Launched in 2011 by the West Australian Division of the AICD, the DPP aims to create a pipeline of “board-ready” executive women in the WA business community, and to complement AICD’s national board diversity initiatives.

The program runs from February to September each year and provides the opportunity to extend networks with other senior executives and directors, raise their profiles through exclusive events and functions, and attend a range of workshops and professional development programs.  The 2018 participants included 44 women from a wide range of organisations, industries and backgrounds.

Barbara Gordon, RCF’s co-Legal Counsel, Australia spoke at the reception about RCF’s encouragement of diversity at the board level of WA companies.  As of 6 September 2018, 38%[1] of RCF’s ASX listed investments have women on their boards, including one in the role of Chair.  This compares favourably to 21.7%[2] of ASX All Ordinaries boards having women directors as at 30 June 2018.  Globally, 27%[3] of RCF’s investments have female directors.

“This diversity and strengthening of board skill sets is something RCF has been actively working on and we continue to be open to ideas that will help us to identify talent for our portfolio company boards.“ said Ms Gordon.

AICD released a Gender Diversity Progress Report[4] on 7 September 2018 indicating the boards of Australia’s largest companies are drawing closer to achieving 30% female representation by the end of 2018.

Caption: 2018 Director Pipeline Program Wrap Reception held in Perth on 6 September 2018

[1] Source: RCF internal data, 6 September 2018

[2] Source: AICD website, 7 September 2018

[3] Source: RCF internal data, 6 September 2018

[4] Source https://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/advocacy/board-diversity/gender-diversity-momentum-continues-asx-200-boards

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Jolimont Global Mining Systems Pty Ltd, a portfolio company of Resource Capital Fund VI L.P., invests in high growth mining equipment, technology and services companies.  Jolimont Global’s Managing Partner, Charles Gillies spoke with Mining Journal.  “The things about METS in general is it’s kind of an emerging asset class, for want of a better word, and it wouldn’t traditionally have been an area of a lot of focus, mainly because people weren’t aware of it.”

Please read more by clicking here.

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By Peter Nicholson, Partner, Resource Capital Funds
October 31, 2018

For a private equity fund focused solely on minerals and mining investment opportunities, global exploration spend and where it is occurring is an important indicator of the level of activity in the sector, and the appetite for development capital.

Exploration is generally associated with minerals discovery. However, exploration features extensively in the mine development process where discoveries are proved up, derisked and progressed to a bankable stage. This includes defining Ore Resources, Ore Reserves and various levels of studies. For junior and mid-size companies, development capital ahead of a bankable project can be difficult or expensive to source from listed equity markets. This provides an opportunity for more flexible funding options such as private equity, that actively participate throughout the project development process.

Figure 1: Global Exploration Spend
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, 2018

A boom-bust sector

Contributing to the project funding challenges for emerging resources companies is the highly cyclical nature of the mining industry. Lags between demand changes and production supply responses are common and usually unavoidable, contributing to significant fluctuations in global commodity prices, mining capex, and the availability and cost of development capital. This cyclicality is clearly evident in Figure 1, which shows global annual exploration spending over the last 20 years. Spending on exploration peaked in 2012 at around $20.5B after a decade of China fuelled growth during the mining boom, only briefly interrupted by the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. The subsequent cyclical decline was comparatively rapid and severe as record minerals production was brought online. Exploration spend declined by two thirds in the four years following the mining boom peak, reaching a post boom low of $6.9B in 2016. It is not until 2017 that exploration spending showed signs of recovery.

Figure 2: Global Exploration Spending by Region
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, 2018

Following the money trail

While the boom-bust cycle in exploration spend has been equally prevalent across the globe, the regional distribution of exploration activity has diverged. There has been a marked change in exploration focus towards Latin America and away from more established mining regions including Australia and Canada. Latin America has generally attracted the largest share of global exploration spending throughout the cycle, accounting for an average of around 25% of spend (figure 2). The last decade has seen a clear increase in exploration focus on the region with shares of spending increasing from a low of 21.8% in 2007 to a high of 30.0% in 2017. In the same period Canada’s share has declined from around 21% to below 15%, while South East Asia, Australia and the USA have remained relatively steady at around 4%, 12%, and 8%, respectively.

The move away from grass roots Exploration can be divided into three broad types:

• Grassroots – searching for new mineral resources.
• Late Stage & Feasibility – evaluating discovered resources to convert to reserves, and to determine the feasibility of development.
• Mine site – extend mine life and identify nearby targets to maintain infrastructure utilisation.

Figure 3: Global Exploration Spending by Type
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, 2018

Analyzing global spending by type also indicates a change in focus over the last two decades. Figure 3 shows that in 1997 more than 50% of global spending was on grassroots exploration. As the quantum of exploration spending has grown, more of this has occurred during project development and mine site operations. In fact, project development and mine site exploration combined accounted for more than 70% of global exploration spending in 2017.

“Project development and mine site exploration combined accounted for more than 70% of global exploration spending in 2017.”

Size does matter in a cyclical sector Cyclicality in the mining sector has a direct effect on access to capital. Smaller companies generally have fewer funding alternatives available to them than their larger counterparts, and consequently have less capital to deploy in cyclical downturns. This is illustrated in figure 4, where intermediate size companies have accounted for a relatively stable share of global exploration spend across the cycle, while the relative share of spend for juniors and majors has exhibited considerable volatility. Expansionary periods in the mining cycle have provided easier access to capital for juniors, which in turn has driven significant increases in exploration spend relative to majors. As capital availability tightens in contractionary periods, exploration by juniors all but ceases, with the dominant exploration spend related to longer term development projects, or mine site activities by majors.

Figure 4: Global Exploration Spend by Entity Type
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, 2018′

Conclusion – the right time to explore for new mining investments

What do these observations around global exploration spend mean for investors looking to participate in minerals and mining growth? An increase in global exploration spend in 2017, after a four year decline, indicates an increase in capital expenditure on minerals projects, and therefore demand for investment capital. More importantly, the increasing focus on late stage and feasibility related exploration suggests the time is right for investors looking to participate in minerals project development, particularly in the Latin America region, and on smaller companies as the cycle improves. With offices in the USA, Australia, Canada, and now Chile, RCF is well positioned to participate as a strategic capital partner in the development of new mining projects across globe.

The post Exploring for New Mining Investments appeared first on Resource Capital Funds.

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