Natural resources

At Moore, we recognise the many challenges faced by businesses focused on the mining of coal, gold, iron ore and other natural resources.

Fluctuating commodity prices and currency values add greater complexity to the process of planning future operations. Persistently rising operating costs, not least through wage inflation in many regions, have increased pressure on margins and the need for efficiencies. Meanwhile, predicting demand has become more difficult, with the slowdown in manufacturing growth in China on the one hand, and continued growth of other developing nations on the other.

Additional challenges arise in relation to completing capital projects, many mining companies failing to do so on time and on budget. The risk of fraud and corruption – a particular issue in sectors such as mining, where management teams are physically distant from operations – adds a further level of complexity.

Our professionals offer advice and support to help you overcome these challenges and capitalise on opportunities arising from them. We can assist through business modelling, developing flexible and robust forecasts to assess a range of business scenarios based on a variety of commodity price, exchange rate, cost and demand outcomes. Drawing on our sector expertise, we can benchmark costs and identify potential operational efficiencies.

We can advise management on appropriate governance and control structures, both to optimise investment in capital projects, and to minimise risk of losses through fraud and corruption. We help clients establish a robust risk management framework, such as the Moore’s Rhiza risk tool, to provide management with assurance that policies, procedures and ethical standards are being applied across the business in all locations.

We offer expertise in financial accounting and reporting, audit and assurance, as well as fund raising. We also have experience in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), where we are an accredited validator, undertaking assignments to produce EITI reports that independently verify and reconcile the tax and royalty payments disclosed by companies and by governments. For more information, contact one of the team.

In providing our services, we draw on the Moore Global network of member firms, with sector and technical experts based in all key mining regions: Africa, UK, Russia and the CIS states, Canada, Asia (including Indonesia and Malaysia) and South America. Close working with our London office ensures a smooth, one-stop service, for all our mining clients.