AME Group

The AME Group is a global firm of independent economists in the metal and mineral industries with offices in Australia, Hong Kong, New York and the United Kingdom and affiliations in North America, South America, Africa and China. Coupled with our economics team we rigorously assess the energy, metal and mining industries. As economic engineers, we focus on the technical detail of resource project

s and global supply. This depth of specialisation allows us to value projects and companies, and assess strategic direction. Our engineers are assisted by our economics team to undertake the full supply/demand industry analysis. Thus, we bridge the gap between market analysis and technical appraisals. We pioneer fundamental “grass roots” research on mines, fields, plants and projects. Our granular site by site approach is necessary as this is a technically based activity. This method offers a better understanding of the issues and trends that drive projects, companies, industries and markets. We operate two major global research centres within an integrated global footprint of regional offices as a leader in technical knowledge for the energy, metals and mining industries. The short-term resources cycle is on the mend and good projects are being evaluated by producers and investors alike. Longer-term assessment of the resources industry requires technical judgment to assess relative grades, mining methods, processing options and infrastructure needs, to other available projects. This encompasses mining, metallurgical, infrastructure and capital cost requirements. Our senior colleagues are very experienced managers. They start the process by looking at reserves and resources—the independent variable. This leads to an engineering method to assess the block flow model and the process flow circuits. Each process is costed based upon labour, energy, fixed and mobile equipment costs, consumable costs, transportation and depreciation. Our intention is to capture technical information as input for a scoping study. It involves deductive research, a lot of travel, experience and time. This new knowledge drives our operational understanding and, in aggregate, determines the global supply. To facilitate this site analysis, we utilise a sophisticated software research platform managed by a brilliant team of software engineers embedded within the industry research teams. This process drives our asset valuations and is linked to tailored (manipulable) valuation models. Exploration projects, mines, smelters, refineries, steel mills and oil fields can be directly compared regarding financial return, risk, capital outlay and industry attractiveness.