Considerations for engaging IMDG
1: There is a growing global demand for minerals to meet the diverse and rapidly evolving supply chain requirements.
2: The abundant deposits of Southern Africa, still largely untapped, could be a major part of the supply solution. Even South Africa, famously well explored and exploited, has much more minerals to offer.
3: Besides substantial capital, the other constraint to accessing these minerals is the capacity to conceive, design and plan an optimal mining and minerals processing operation, and to assess its profitability to a good standard (termed ‘project development‘). This capacity is constrained by the number and credentials of professionals who are available. Project development work is exacting, and how well it is done has a high impact on the operational and financial performance of the acquired asset. The depth of expertise and the extensive experience of IMDG’s multidisciplinary core team of industry veterans, which they gained when South Africa was still a global leader in mining, is exceptional if not unique.
There are two types of investors who could choose to engage IMDG:
A. Providers of VC (venture capital) who are ready to invest in the opportunities offered by IMDG’s entrepreneurial business model. This highly profitable business model exploits the phenomenon that returns that are multiples of the costs incurred can be earned, though only at the end of the project development period that can range from two years to five years. The amounts required per project development venture range from under US$3 million to over US$10 million, depending on the extent of the project and on whether it is greenfield or brownfield.
Providers of ‘venture capital’ are typically not in the business of acquiring mining and minerals processing operations that cost hundreds of millions to billions of US$. However, those who would appreciate the IMDG opportunity are likely to know the minerals extraction business and have associations with owners and operators of mineral extraction assets who may want to acquire the assets after (or during the time) the feasibility studies are done by IMDG.
B. An equity fund or a mining group not based in the region who wishes to acquire – or increase its portfolio of – mining and minerals processing assets in Southern Africa (the SADEC countries). This type of investor will value IMDG’s exceptional capacity to qualify potential assets to be acquired in Southern Africa (the SADEC countries), then to do the project development work up to completing a feasibility study to an exceptionally high standard, and to work on several projects in parallel. IMDG can also provide services that follow the completion of the feasibility study:
EPCM (Engineering, Procurement and Construc on Management), or oversight thereof
Operational readiness assessment
Integrated operations management
Operational effectiveness improvement
Asset management initiatives
Employee recruitment, skills training and professional mentoring
Comprehensive contract mining, or facilitation and oversight thereof
This type of investor will have the option to invest in IMDG’s entrepreneurial business model, which will allow the investor to only commit to acquire an asset after the feasibility study is completed, while incidentally making a profit. (Refer to IMDG’s models for doing business – IMDG)