In this episode, we chat with Craig Hutton, who is the CEO and President of Iron Bull Mining. A junior mining company that is on a mission to open up the next big African copper basin in Namibia.
Craig is an economic geologist with over 25 years of experience. He is going to talk about a book he wrote titled, “Mining Economics Explained” which is aimed at boards, executives, managers, and technical mining professionals. It unpacks the economic optimisation of a mine so that mining teams can maintain capital investment discipline against consistent criteria.
 
KEY TAKEAWAYS

Harmony Gold Mining embedded Craig’s approach to mine analysis into their thinking and in just 7 years became the world’s fifth largest gold mining company.
Miners really need to understand economics to succeed over the long term.
During the last commodity boom, it was noted costs rose as volumes increased. The opposite of what the industry expected.
Craig´s algorithm determines what an ore body can sustain. How much production levels can rise before costs begin to escalate.
Craig´s algorithm welds ore body signatures with economics.
Many investors do not fully appreciate that mining is a long-term game.
In the next 26 years, demand for copper will be higher than what humankind has consumed up until this point.
Unpacking the cost curves, in advance, is key.
There is a difference between viability and feasibility. A distinction that few in the mining industry fully understand.
3D models and Craig’s spreadsheet-based algorithm work well together.


BEST MOMENTS
‘There’s a point at which actually costs begin to rise, you get to a point of diseconomies of scale. ´
‘We are going into a new super cycle and the danger is that we repeat what we did in the last super cycle.’
‘Every single orebody has a different financial signature.’
 
EPISODE RESOURCES
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-h-3755a612/
Email: craig@brenthurstcapital.com
 
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Email: rob@mining-international.org
Website: https://www.mining-international.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MiningRobTyson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DigDeepTheMiningPodcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theminingpodcast/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DigDeepTheMiningPodcast/videos
 
ABOUT THE HOST
Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community insight into people's experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics.
Rob is the Founder and Director of Mining International Ltd, a leading global recruitment and headhunting consultancy based in the UK specializing in all areas of mining across the globe from the first world to third world countries from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. We source, headhunt, and discover new and top talent through a targeted approach and search methodology and have a proven track record in sourcing and positioning exceptional candidates into our client's organizations in any mining discipline or level.
Mining International provides a transparent, informative, and trusted consultancy service to our candidates and clients to help them develop their careers and business goals and objectives in this ever-changing marketplace.
Podcast Description
Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content about the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight into people’s experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and gu