Modern Management in the Global Mining Industry

The mining industry faces distinct challenges. Mines have long lives, companies have little control over the prices at which they sell, prices are volatile, and the environmental impacts of mining are often not well managed. Despite this, the mining industry has received relatively little attention from neither economists nor the wider business community. There is a need to address the unique management challenges raised by this globally important industry.  Modern Management in the Global Mining Industry addresses the economics of mining industries and the management of global mining companies in a manner which is both practical and guided by economic and management theory. Leading with the assertion that mining generates substantial benefits for all its stakeholders provided it is well-managed, and that this includes management of environmental impacts, the book argues that mining companies should move to seeing environmental preservation and sustenance of local communities as an objective rather than a constraint.   The book will be an important reference for practitioners working in mining and related industries and to researchers of economic and management theory, mining operations, mining engineering and commodities.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Commodity Price Forecasting  Chapter 3. Recycling  Chapter 4. The Marketing of Commodities  Chapter 5. The Role of Commodity Exchanges in Pricing  Chapter 6. Price Risk Management  Chapter 7. Shareholder Value  Chapter 8. Measuring mine production costs  Chapter 9. Performance Improvement and Capital Productivity  Chapter 10. Risk and the Cost of Capital  Chapter 11. The Mining Cycle  Chapter 12. The Myths and Realities of Resource Depletion  Chapter 13. The Environment - Cost or Constraint?  Chapter 14. Unfinished business

About the Author :
Robin Adams spent most of his adult life working as a minerals economist with Citibank, his own company Resource Strategies and the CRU Group both in England and the United States. His work included consulting for mining, fabricating and manufacturing companies as well as for international organizations. He died in 2014.  Christopher Gilbert is an Adjunct Professor at the Bologna Center of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He previously held professorial positions in London, Amsterdam and Trento. He is a Non-Executive Director of CRU International Ltd.  Christopher Stobart worked in the publishing industry and then as a financial journalist before joining CRU International in 1976. He has worked for that company in a variety of capacities since that date.

Review :
‘Robin Adams was one of the great mineral economists of our times. Drawing on his many years as an industry consultant and his strong knowledge of economics and business administration, Robin has, with the help of Christopher Gilbert and Christopher Stobart, given us a book that provides a wealth of information on mineral commodity markets. Anyone striving to understand the behavior of mineral commodity markets and gain an insight into the mining industry should read this book.’ ‘This book is a must read if you are planning a career in the minerals industry. Its author, Robin G Adams, with more than 40 years’ experience at CRU, one of the world’s most prominent consulting firms in the field, exhibits mastery in disentangling the intricacies of this important industry to the lay reader. Complex issues like metal price formation, measurement of production costs, or the myths of resource depletion are straightened out so as to be accessible even to my grandkids, yet with no loss of realism. I am full of admiration.’ ‘Robin understood the mining industry better than most of those working in it. In these pages, he tells, with characteristic clarity and vigour, of his personal journey to uncover the economics of the mining industry, to establish where it differs from other industries, and to develop the intellectual tools required to pinpoint where value can be found and how it can be extracted in an effective and responsible fashion.’ The late Adams, a minerals economist and consultant to mining companies, discusses the efficient organization of the mining industry. He uses examples of various minerals used in the economy to discuss the problem of commodity price risk, commodity marketing and the role of commodity exchanges, and managing price risk; the idea that the only viable business strategy is to build or acquire low-cost operations and how this conflicts with modern concepts of business strategy, the basics of value-based management used by mining companies, techniques for companies to reorient themselves from a narrow focus on the cost of production to a broader focus on delivering value, and specific techniques like benchmarking and outsourcing and their pitfalls; and mine development, the myths and realities of resource depletion, the environmental impact, and its management.