Interview with Mark Kenwright, Associate Director of Wardell Armstrong - International Mining Consultants.

This is a first conversation with a very well respected mining consultant, with a view to open up to Retail shareholders how institutions view risk when making investments. Due Diligence is everything. Kenwright is honest and gets straight to the 'crux' on a variety of topics investors may find interesting.

Wardell Armstrong, founded in 1837, is an international consultancy firm providing engineering, environmental and mining services in the mining & minerals, infrastructure & utilities, and property & development sectors. Kenwright himself is a chartered professional FAusIMM CP(Geo), with over 24 year's experience as a geology/exploration Manager.

Wardell Armstrong doesn't build mines, but they provide studies and reports at various stages to help companies get mines constructed. Companies generally hire Wardell Armstrong to obtain a competent person's report, scoping studies and due diligence studies and similar before conducting an IPO listing or investing into them. These reports can cost anyway from £50,000 to £150,000. The "bread and butter" services that Wardell Armstrong provides are scoping studies, desktop studies and due diligence for mining companies at a development stage. They are providing a much more detailed version of what Family Offices and HNWIs should be doing themselves.

We were interested in asking about the transparency and integrity of Wardell Armstrong: do clients influence their reports? Kenwright insists that while Wardell Armstrong can treat certain subjects delicately, everything must be disclosed as part of their publications. Nothing is held back and they have a legal obligation to ensure this is the case. If Wardell Armstrong doesn't talk about something at the request of one of their client's, they have to disclose why. There is a table that very few investors seem to look at towards the end of these studies, that will inform them of things they need to know, yet often don't.

Kenwright then touches on the IMO3 conference in London. The title this year is 'Mining and the Electric Vehicle.' Mining companies, regulators and academics will meet on the 29th-30th January to discuss issues, ideas, and solutions to problems in the mining world.

Kenwright then talks about the Western Africa security situation. The Sahel has been suffering from increasingly widespread instances of terrorist attacks, and mining companies, such as SEMAFO, has suffered heavily at the hands of ISGS, Ansar ul-Islam, Boko Haram and al Qaeda amongst others. How has this impacted other mining companies and what is the outlook? Wardell Armstrong is well aware of this issue, courtesy of their standard practice of performing a risk assessment. Kenwright describes the deterioration of the situation in Burkina Faso as "shocking." Kenwright has discussed the situation with senior security operatives in the region and they have coined the phrase "Kabulisation", in relation to the similarities with Afghanistan, where security forces only have control of a very small area around the capital. Everything else is "bandit country." We wonder if this will expand in to other territories.

Kenwright explains there have been 650,000 Burkina Faso residents displaced; this has not received any mainstream exposure. He does, however, claim it is still possible to mine economically in the region. Kenwright takes a "life goes on" view, but can investors afford to be so confident?

Kenwright also touches on the outlook for the struggling lithium market, and provides some general investment advice, such as considering avoiding a management team that changes frequently (LinkedIn is apparently very useful)!

What did you make of Mark Kenwright? What questions would you like to ask about Wardell Armstrong or general mining topics in the future? 

Company page: https://www.wardell-armstrong.com/ 

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