Metals and mining consultancy Saint Barbara joins MCI
Saint Barbara and Metals Consulting International, two London-based consulting firms focused on the metals and mining industry, have joined forces.
“We are delighted to come together with the experts at Metals Consulting International. There is much complementarity between our two businesses, and the merger means that we will be able to offer clients a much broader range of metals, minerals and mining sector advisory capabilities,” said Andy Wells, a Partner at Saint Barbara.
Founded in 1992, Saint Barbara is an consultancy firm that offers specialist advice to the metals, minerals and mining industries. The firm's consultants specialise in among others base and ferrous metals, steelmaking metals, battery metals, precious metals and rare earths, and supports clients across Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas.
“Saint Barbara have a well-established mining and metal industry expertise. We too are very pleased to join forces – together, our industry specialists look forward to continuing growth as interest in the global ferrous and non-ferrous metals industries continues to rise,” said Andrzej Kotas, Managing Director of Metals Consulting International.
The larger London-based consultancy was founded in 2003 and specialises in management consultancy and performance improvement services to clients in the iron and steel sector. The company also supports its clients across Europe, Africa and the Middle East with due diligence and feasibility study work and dispute resolution.
A recent report by KPMG found that risks in the global mining industry are on the rise, in particular commodity and permitting risks, and as a result large mining companies such as BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Vale are increasingly turning to experts to advise them to strategic, planning and operational issues. According to data from Consultancy.org, the global resources consulting industry is now worth more than $16 billion, up from $14 billion five years ago.
As part of the integration, Saint Barbara’s business activities will come under the umbrella of Metals Consulting International and will continue to operate under its current brand. David Duckworth, who gained 35 years of experience in the mining and minerals industries spanning operations, consultancy and economic analysis at among others CRU and Roskill, has been named head of Saint Barbara’s team post-closing.
