David Pearce
Corporate Consultant (Mining Engineering)
SRK Consulting (UK)
David is a mining engineer with more than 35 years' experience both in operations and as a consultant. With SRK, David has led technical studies, due diligence reviews for acquisitions, stock exchange listings and project finance, and project optimization studies. His broad knowledge of a wide range of commodities and working environments enables him to identify key issues quickly and efficiently, as well as to assemble teams with experts from around the world to provide specific advice. David also led SRK's office in Moscow for 16 years and therefore has an unparalleled knowledge of the region. As a thought-leader, David has also been involved in helping clients develop effective strategies for reducing carbon emissions and improve the efficiency of operations.
How to accelerate the project evaluation process
A recent survey by S&P Global highlighted that the time taken to go from discovery to production had increased in recent years from 13 years to 18 years. Given market expectations that demand for copper may double in ten years, how can the mining industry accelerate the process for evaluating projects. David will explore some steps being taken to more rapidly process exploration data to identify targets with a greater probability of success, how ensuring that more information is extracted during the exploration period can enable a multi-disciplinary team to facilitate the stage-gate process, and how designing for flexibility may enable certain projects get into production sooner, maximising NPV. David will also explore the converse approach, how cutting corners can lead to residual risks and lost opportunities.
