Mining services are typically defined in two different ways. The first is for physical mining operations, which includes the extraction of minerals, metals, and other material from the earth for industrial and commercial use. Mining services can also be defined as services that support mining activities, including land/project evaluation, staffing services, field crew services, equipment rental, consulting, and more.
WHAT IS INCLUDED IN MINING SERVICES?
While the definition of mining operations as a mining service are relatively straightforward, mining consulting can encompass a wide variety of services. The mining services a company or operation receives depend on its current capabilities and needs. Mining services help round out a company’s operations while optimizing performance and profitability.
Mining services can take place at any part of the mining process, as early as project conceptualization and through operations and reclamation. There is also no limit on the size of operation that can receive mining services. An individual may seek mining services to help with researching or filing a land claim while a large-scale company may seek mining services for all of their staffing, field crew, and geophysical needs.
These services are often broken down into a few different categories:
STAFFING SERVICES
Staffing services refer to using a mining services company to help with recruitment and contract labor management. The benefit of using a mining services company for this recruitment and management versus a general staffing company is because of the mining specialization. A mining services company that offers staffing services will have a robust network of mining professionals to pull from as well as the skills and experience to be able to discern the most qualified candidates.
In addition to recruitment, a mining services company can also help with contract labor management. This means everything from payroll to benefits, job numbers and timesheets will be taken care of from the services company instead of in-house.
TECHNICAL SERVICES
Technical services in the mining services industry typically refers to expert consultation, strategy, and reporting in regard to the analysis and operation of the mine. Some technical services include 3D geologic modeling, database audits, property evaluation, resource estimation, mine design and scheduling, metallurgy, process engineering, operations audits, and more.
FIELD CREW SERVICES
Field crew services refer to in-the-field services, or crew services that take place in part or in whole with boots on the ground. These services can take place during the exploration, operation, or completion stages of mining services. Examples of field crew services include soil sampling, claim staking, land research, AML fencing, warehouse organization, transportation of core, chips, pulps and other warehoused project materials, and reclamation seeding.
GEOPHYSICAL SERVICES
Finally, mining services also include geophysical services, which include the collection, analysis, and reporting of the geophysical properties of a surface and subsurface. These services are more specialized, requiring additional skills and testing equipment. Some examples of geophysical services include gravity and magnetics surveys, ground penetrating radar (GPR), resistivity and induced polarity (IP) surveys, very low frequency (VLF) surveys, and more.
Talk to an Expert
If you would like to learn about mining services and to explore services that can help with your new or existing mine or geology project, please reach out. Our experts are happy to help.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BRIAN GOSS
President, Rangefront Mining Services
Brian Goss brings over 20 years of experience in gold and mineral exploration. He is the founder and President of Rangefront, a premier geological services and mining consulting company that caters to a large spectrum of clients in the mining and minerals exploration industries. Brian is also a director of Lithium Corp. (OTCQB: LTUM), an exploration stage company specializing in energy storage minerals and from 2014 to 2017, he fulfilled the role of President and Director of Graphite Corp. (OTCQB: GRPH), an exploration stage that specialized in the development of graphite properties. Prior to founding Rangefront, Brian worked as a staff geologist for Centerra Gold on the REN project, as well as various exploration and development projects in the Western United States and Michigan. Brian Goss holds a Bachelor of Science Degree with a major in Geology from Wayne State University in Michigan.
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