Achieving Superior Delivery of Capital Projects

Accenture global survey of the metals and mining industries

Contents
Executive summary

Key survey findings

Leading performers attributes and advantages

10

Five recommendations for effective project delivery

14

Conclusion 22

Executive summary
Mining and metals companies have
seen unprecedented growth in capital
projects investments due to rising
commodity prices, with metals and
mining expenditures peaking at more
than $140 billion1 in 2012.2 Even
with a recent downturn in commodity
prices, investments will remain based
on long-term demand for minerals and
metals, which continues to be driven by
economic growth and social development
throughout the world. An estimated
$1.5 trillion is projected to be spent
globally on metals and mining projects
through 2025.3
Projects are growing in scale and
complexity, based on geological factors,
the remoteness of project sites, limited
available talent, construction labor
constraints and increasing infrastructure
requirements. Expectations of superior
safety and a focus on environmental
concerns will continue to grow regardless
of location, but country risks will rise
as companies carry out the search
for minerals to higher-risk regions.
Host-country expectations on local
content and investor expectations are
intensifying the sustainability focus. In
addition, price volatility during project
execution can abruptly change cash
flows and market perceptions on the
rate of return/value of a project.

This unprecedented scale, along with

the innate complexity of capital
projects in the mining and metals
industries, leads to the question:
How can capital projects delivery be
improved? To answer this question,
Accenture interviewed executives from
these industries about key challenges
and methods to improve outcomes.
An overwhelming majority of respondents,
78 percent, consider effective capital
project delivery to be critical for high
performance. Respondents indicate,
however, their companies are not
delivering consistently against their
own targets. Less than a third adhere to
approved budgets (within 25 percent)
for all projects, with less than a fifth
reporting completion within 10 percent of
costs for all projects, signifying that going
over budget is a persistent problem.
Accenture identified a group of leading
performers, roughly a third of the
sample size. Leading performers are
defined as yielding predictable projects
that meet the designed operating
parameters safely, on budget and
on time. Ninety percent of leading
performers cite effective capital projects
delivery as critical to meeting operating
needs and financial expectations,
compared to 71 percent of companies
in the rest of the sample. Additional
characteristics are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Ways in which leading performers stand out.

Thirty percent of leading companies

indicate having well established project
delivery organizations, based on proven
delivery processes, as compared to 10
percent of others. This finding, however,
indicates that the majority of all
respondents delivery processes are in
need of a great deal of development.

Five recommendations for

effective capital project
delivery
From analysis of the survey results,
research and experience with clients,
Accenture has identified five key areas to
improve project delivery to meet cost and
schedule demands, reduce risks and boost
returns on investment (ROI):
1. Establish strong project governance and
risk management tools.
2. Proactively manage external
stakeholders increasing expectations
for sustainability.
3. Optimize scarce talent through portfolio
management, organizational flexibility
and training.
4. Integrate information systems among
capital projects players.
5. Accelerate operational readiness.

About the research

This report is based on primary research
conducted by a third-party firm on behalf
of Accenture. Thirty-one interviews were
conducted with executives in the metals
and mining industries between February
and May 2012. Survey interviewers
conducted a phone survey with executives
in North and South America, Europe,
South Africa, India, Russia and China. All
respondents were C-level executives and
decision makers or influencers regarding
decisions related to management of
capital projects in their organizations.

Accenture defines a capital project

as a long-term investment, usually
exceeding $50 million, involving either
greenfield or brownfield projects. For
this survey, Accenture focused on
delivery of major assets costing at least
$1 billion to build and taking more than
a year to deliver. Survey respondents
cited a wide range of projects that
fit the survey criteria (Figure 2).
To gain insights on leading practices,
Accenture also looked at characteristics
of companies that self-reported higher
scores for capital project delivery.

Figure 2. Distribution of capital projects for mining and metals companies surveyed.

Respondents could mention more than one category.

Key survey findings

Portfolios and
performance trends
Capital project delivery is critical
for superior performance
An overwhelming majority of survey
respondents, 78 percent, consider
effective capital project delivery to be
critical, with an additional 19 percent
deeming it important.

but companies are not

consistently delivering value
A majority of respondents concede
they are not delivering consistently
against their own targets (Figure 3).
For all projects, only 17 percent deliver
the expected business value of all new
projects. However, more than two-thirds
(69 percent) of respondents report
obtaining the expected value for the
majority of capital projects.

Delivery consistency is a major issue.

Less than one-third adhere to approved
budgets (within 25 percent) for all
projects, with less than one-fifth
of respondents report being within
10 percent of costs for all projects.
Given the scale of capital investments
projects, the implications are huge.

Costs and complexity tend to be high

in developed regions, partly due to
heightened concerns of environmental
issues. But complexity cannot be avoided
in less-developed regions due to social,
regulatory and political risks.

Portfolios are expected to increase

in size and complexity
As stated earlier, complexities on projects
are due to the remoteness of the sites and
added infrastructure components, which
in many cases include significant earth
works, roads, ports and power plants.
More than two-thirds of respondents
indicate projects will grow larger, and 81
percent say complexity will increase.

Figure 3. The majority of respondents are not consistently delivering against their own targets.

Respondents top priorities

When asked about their organizational
priorities in the next three years, the
top four for optimizing capital project
management concern (Figure 4):
Availability of the right leaders and
talent for project delivery.
Front-end loading and scheduling.
Start-up readiness.
Effective stakeholder engagement.

Top priority: availability of the

right leaders and talent for project
delivery

Attracting and retaining talent has

become a major issue. In developed
regions, the workforce is aging, and the
metals and mining industries have had
difficulty competing with the high-tech
industry and high-growth sectors for top
college graduates.
With projects in remote areas, the
capability to attract and retain key talent,
like project directors, has been difficult.
Burnout and time away from home have
created havoc in retention of needed
personnel, which undermines project
management skills. High rates of turnover
also undermine the ability to deliver
projects up to expectations.

Seventy-two percent of executives

interviewed identified talent shortages as
a major concern in the next three years.
In a related survey question, 90 percent
view talent as a major concern in the next
five years.

Figure 4. Top priorities in the next three years.

Respondents plan to address talent

shortages through a variety of
measures, including turnkey contracts
for engineering, procurement,
construction (EPC) companies, tactical
sourcing through staff augmentation
partners, and development of
internal resources (Figure 5).

Third priority: start-up readiness

In response to another talent-related

question, slightly less than half of
respondents (48 percent) indicated
they have considered using information
technology (IT) to offshore or outsource
engineering services. Roughly one-third
have considered outsourcing back-office
administrative tasks (35 percent) and
project management (32 percent).

While technology enables successful

project delivery and transition
into operations, only 10 percent of
respondents say their IT capabilities
provide excellent levels of support. More
than half of executives interviewed put IT
capabilities in an average range, and 35
percent indicate the contribution of IT is
in the poor range.

Second priority: front-end loading

and scheduling

IT systems allow for management of

data throughout the project life cycle,
from planning through handover to
an EPC or EPCM firm and back to the
owner/operator. In terms of engineering
capabilities, IT systems enable better
up-front design and 3D visualization.
IT also can help improve the accuracy
of transferring materials quantities
and specifications, and operations and
maintenance (O&M) manuals, thereby
enhancing control, procurement programs
and overall project execution. A proper
set up of IT and project management
systems allows for better analytics to
enhance project execution and monitoring.

Improving planning and scheduling is

the second-highest priority identified by
respondents. To provide clarity on what
encompasses front-end loading, also
known as front-end loaded planning, a
high-level diagram illustrates the key
phases (Figure 9, shown on page 17).
The importance of front-end loading is
reinforced by responses to another survey
question, asking about what typically
causes delays. Insufficient detail during
the planning stage ranked third, followed
by original assumptions proven incorrect
or incomplete; unforeseen contractor and
supplier constraints; and asset scoping/
specification design changes driven by
new requirements. All of these relate to
front-end loading, which can take years
for complex projects.

Improved readiness for start-up is the

third-highest priority. Making a more
effective transition to operations typically
calls for involving operations people in
design and delivery, including operator
training and additional elements to
accelerate start-up and commissioning.

Fourth priority: effective

stakeholder engagement
Ensuring stakeholder engagement is
the fourth-highest priority for the next
three years. In a related question (see
Figure 6), respondents indicate they
are taking steps to manage stakeholder
expectations. For example, 87 percent
say the project management team
manages most of the internal and
external stakeholders. Slightly more
than two-thirds have a separate group
within the project team that manages
key stakeholders. Due to increasingly
complex requirements, including those
relating to sustainability, managing
these requirements also requires greater
attention so as to avoid delays.

Figure 5. How respondents plan to cope with talent shortages.

Figure 6. Respondents indicate governance is in place to manage complex stakeholder requirements.

Leading performers
attributes and advantages
Accenture analysis of the survey data shows multiple
attributes and capabilities set leading performers apart
from other organizations. A group of leading companies
outperforms the rest in meeting their own project targets
on safety, environment, sustainability, cost, schedule,
quality and delivery of reliable production capacity.

10

11

Attributes
Higher priority on effective delivery
Not surprisingly, companies that achieve
a higher proportion of on-time, onbudget delivery for their projects assign
a higher priority to project delivery
capabilities and focus. Ninety percent
of leading companies cite effective
project delivery (in regards to established
project goals of safety, environment,
cost, schedule and meeting throughput
design) as critical compared to 71 percent
of companies in the rest of sample.

More consistent use of relevant

analytics
One-hundred percent of leaders use
portfolio indicators for all projects,
compared to 43 percent of the rest of the
sample (Figure 7). Portfolio KPIs typically
are used for managing a group of projects
to take advantage of commonality of
design, grouping of procurement and
ensuring availability of the best execution
team. KPIs for portfolio management
typically drive savings and other
performance improvements in these areas.

Well-developed culture
Leading companies are more confident of
their culture of project delivery excellence
(Figure 8), and a 42 percentagepoint spread separates leaders (80
percent) from others (38 percent). A
well-developed culture does not rely
on having a large owners team, but
rather an effective and experienced
team of project collaborators. A welldeveloped culture needs to be infused
with capabilities in risk management,
superior project management, stagegating and peer-review processes. A
strong program management office
needs to integrate activities with EPCs,
EPCMs and construction companies.

More mature processes

Thirty percent of leaders indicate
mature project management processes,
as compared to 10 percent of others.
While seeing their processes as
relatively more mature than the overall
survey group, more than two-thirds
of leaders still recognize they have
considerable room to develop.

Figure 7. More systematic use of KPIs to measure project delivery.

Base: All respondents (Leading companies = 10 Rest of the sample = 21)

12

Advantages
Partly as a result of some of the attributes
described earlier, survey analysis finds
that the leading group experiences:

Fewer revisions in approved

schedule
The performance spread between
leading companies and the rest of the
sample is 31 percentage points.

Significantly fewer changes

introduced during construction
A comparative analysis shows
a performance spread between
leading companies and the rest of
the sample is also at 31 percent.

Figure 8. The project delivery culture gap.

Methodology for identifying

leading performers
Among the criteria used to
identify leading performers were
having abilities to deliver to
cost and schedule (both within
25 percent), and having reliable
production capabilities as well
as quality requirements. The
sample size (n=31) for considering

leading performers included

nine metals and 22 mining
companies. Accenture identified
10 companies as leading in capital
project delivery.

13

Five recommendations for

effective project delivery
With each megaproject, billions of dollars are at stake.
Accenture has identified five interrelated areas to increase
the effectiveness of capital projects delivery:
1. Establish strong project governance and risk
management tools.
2. Proactively manage external stakeholders increasing
expectations for sustainability.
3. Optimize scarce talent through portfolio management,
organizational flexibility and training.
4. Integrate information systems among capital project
players.
5. Accelerate operational readiness.

14

15

1. Establish strong governance and

risk management tools
Multiyear capital projects have so many
variables and long time spans that coming
up with the perfect plan from the start is,
of course, unfeasible. Strong governance is
needed, along with the ability to manage
risks. Project management must unify
a diverse team capable of responding
effectively to changes that arise.

Follow a field-tested
planning tool for the
validation of front-end
loading activities
Front-end loading should occur through
a well-established, stage-gate phasing
(Figure 9). Team members need to meet
guidelines for each stage, identify gaps
and address them in a peer-review
process before moving to the next phase.
A highly disciplined approach clarifies
engineering needs, and leads to more
accurate cost and schedule estimates.
Multiple methodologies for validation
of the quality of the stage-gate process
exist, including the Project Definition
Rating Index (PDRI) for industrial
projects. Independent Project Analysis
(IPA), Inc., is also well known for its
methodology. The choice of tool is
not as important as solid commitment
to follow a tested methodology.
For megaprojects, field-tested frameworks
can help save hundreds of billions of
dollars. A study analyzing more than
100 organizations that followed PDRI
methodology, for example, showed
leading companies were able to keep
costs four percent below budget,
compared to the rest of the sample,
which went six percent over budget.

16

Project teams should seek an objective

review of project delivery that uncovers
areas where innovation could result in a
better plan. The review should be done
by a third-party firm with cross-industry
experience and cross-capability insights.
The companies that develop the best
project plans combine front-end loading
with an effective risk management plan,
along with more realistic productivity
data and bulks/materials cost data. By
taking these elements into account,
a more precise project execution
plan with associated contingency is
created. This eliminates the typical fat
that companies tend to use to address
unknowns. Adherence to an established
methodology will increase the likelihood
of staying on budget and on schedule.
Once the proper methodology is established,
an integrated project management
system will allow for better tracking and
monitoring of the project execution plan.

Implement a rigorous
approach to risk
management
Assembling a cross-functional group helps
to identify a wide range of risks, and the
ways in which risks interact and magnify
the adverse consequences. A diagnostic can
help assess if an organizations capabilities
meet the level of complexity of the project.
Proactively managing risks, such as those
listed in Figure 10, helps reduce the number
of problems, claims and scope changes.
Conferring regularly with contractors
and suppliers also can help project
owners manage a wide range of risks.

Align teams from the start

One important topic for discussion is
getting operations and maintenance
representation early on. In addition,
systems need to be designed that record
the correct information at the start, and
enable sharing of data easily among teams,
including those who will operate the asset.
Agreeing on data needs and relevant
performance indicators lays a solid
foundation for capital projects analytics.
Analytics provide dashboards for
integrated project planning, schedule
control, risk management and reporting.
Agreeing on data needs can also avert
the time-consuming challenge of data
migration from project to operations.

Figure 9. Typical capital project phases, with the first three parts of front-end loading (FEL).

Source: Accenture

Figure 10. Risk management checklist for capital projects.

Accenture has identified the following as key areas for metals and mining companies to focus attention on in managing capital
project risks.
Cost estimating and project scheduling

Human capital

Legal and regulatory compliance

Poorly defined scope

Lack of effective front-end loading
Limited resources for project controls

Shortage of engineering, management,

construction and operations people
Aging workforce
Poor planning for start-up and operations

Unclear responsibility for obtaining licenses

and permits
Lack of attention to corruption and antibribery laws
Poor follow-up on immigration and workpermit requirements
Problematic immigration regulations to
bring in skilled labor

Project economic forecast

Misalignment in expectations between
technical and commercial functions
Infrastructure access issues not considered
in forecasts

Procurement, contracting and project

material logistics
Delays in procurement activities impacting
project schedule
Ineffective contracts
Supplier inability to deliver equipment
in line with project schedule and quality
requirements
Disruption in supply source

Financial and commercial management

Currency and hedging volatility not
considered
Input costs for major material cost increases
(e.g., steel) not considered

Access to strategic infrastructure

Poor planning to move products to market
via infrastructure
Lack of planning for tie-ins to existing and
future infrastructure

Management of contractors
Limited resources for effective oversight
of EPC firms and contractors, who also are
experiencing human capital shortages
Difficulty of managing non-mining
components, such as building infrastructure
in remote areas

Production ramp-up
Failure to consider production issues to
bring products to market at early stages of
the project design
Risk mitigation of major production
problems not done early enough
Delay in setting up the IT infrastructure and
applications

Global program delivery performance

Processes not in place to oversee and
manage complex projects
Treating projects separately rather than
managing them across a region or portfolio
Lack of accounting for possible claims

Health, safety, environment and

community (HSEC) management
Ensure proper alignment of safety culture
and practices
Lack of proactive engagement with
stakeholders
Too little marketing of project benefits and
programs for environmental mitigation
Lack of training, which limits the
potential of creating a positive legacy for
communities
Poorly understood interface between the
business enterprise and project/operational
teams
Projects not aligned with business
objectives and properly controlled
Lack of planning for extreme weather
Inadequate measures to protect
environment

Scope growth and claims management

Poor definition of scope changes
Changes not well coordinated

Sources: IPA and Accenture experience.

17

2. Proactively manage external

stakeholders increasing expectations of
sustainability
Health and safety have for many
years been important concerns, but
now the breadth of environmental
concerns is growing. A major barrier to
moving forward with capital projects
is concern for sustainability.

Anticipate a broad range

of environmental issues,
including biodiversity
Leading companies will adopt Global
Reporting Initiative processes, which
encourage disclosure of environmental
and social factors. The material
aspects of sustainability give a big
competitive advantage to corporations
that have long practiced and built up
competencies, notes Georg Kell, UN
Global Compact executive director.4

18

For the Ambatovy Nickel Project in

Madagascar, an experienced group
of more than 50 local specialists
conducted a baseline survey of soil,
water, flora and fauna. The project
team reviewed potential impacts on
people and the environment, including
the nearby Torotorofotsy wetlands, a
Ramsar site, denoting its significance
as an important wetlands region.5

Understand local cultures

and their training needs
Another part of the Ambatovy project
included employment, with identification
of the need to train people and optimize
employment for the Malagasy population.
The company in charge, Sherritt
International Corporation, partnered
with government, non-governmental
organizations and community groups
to address urbanization effects.

Publicize good works and

leave a positive legacy
Capital projects provide companies with
prime opportunities to leave a legacy
of positive change. For example, when
undertaking projects in remote regions,
construction of roads, ports and power
systems can be attributed to mining.
Rates of employment will likely be
higher for decades. Executives need to
do a better job of promoting positive
contributionsan important part of
stakeholder management and community
relations. Leading companies have made
gains in recent years, for example, in
more efficient use of energy and water,
and transferring skills to local workers.

3. Optimize scarce talent through

portfolio management, organizational
flexibility and training
Since talent in a wide range of areas will
be in high demand for many years, optimal
management of existing resources is vital.

Deploy resources in the

most strategic way
Companies benefit by conferring regularly
with contractors to find the best ways to
leverage scarce talent across projects. For
improved portfolio management, some
companies award multiple contracts to the
same EPC/EPCM company.
Not having too many projects running at
the same time is essential. In addition,
planning and scheduling solutions help
project managers know where and when
specialized talentsuch as welders
or electrical contractorsneed to be
positioned during the build.

Train the next generation

of leaders
It is certainly not news that the industry
is losing experienced managers rapidly
through retirement. The same holds
true for key personnel who manage
megaprojects. Hence, it is important that
mining and metals companies and EPC/
EPCM firms actively identify young talent
who can take on these roles.
Experienced managers in the industry
need to invest time in training younger
candidates. This should be a mandatory
requirement that mining companies should
insist on when awarding contracts to EPC/
EPCM companies.
Accenture recommends developing a
strategic talent plan to identify and
develop resources for capital projects
delivery. Along with key performance
indicators for retention (e.g., average
time at company, employee turnover and
reasons for attrition), companies can track

KPIs for attracting talent (e.g., time to fill

internal positions, number of candidates
with skills to match) and engaging talent
(e.g., scores from employee surveys, uptake
of internal training courses).

Employ smart
organizational design
One of the reasons cost overruns occur is
that highly paid, highly technical people
perform a large amount of transactional
work that could be outsourced.
Companies may choose to outsource
procurement, for example, and obtain a
volume discount of up to 10 percent by
grouping purchases for multiple projects.
Another provider might be contracted
to manage order issues, bar coding and
tracking, along with links for maintenance
tracking, and for payments and credits.
Also consider roles that can be done
remotely (e.g., from a centralized project
office versus those required at a site). Tasks
that must be done at the site, however,
may need fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) talenta
growing trend.

Consider innovative
business models
Given chronic cost overruns, project
owners need to consider creating new
models for project delivery. One Canadian
mining executive, for example, questions
the validity of the EPCM model. He
foresees a model that brings together a
few highly competent firms with distinct
specialties: engineering, construction
and management consulting. The
model calls for seamless integration of
information and communication among
these key players, as well as taking
advantage of the best skills of each
stakeholder to meet the project goals.

The following are typical problems

with the current EPCM model:
1. Shadowing of key positions between
the owner, the EPCM company and the
construction contractor. This leads to
less than expected accountability.
2. Slow progress reporting, since
data has to be consolidated
between multiple parties.
3. Lack of respect for budgets, since the
EPCM companies are usually working on a
reimbursable times and materials budget.
4. Silos exist between the EPCMs
construction execution team and the
owners start up and commissioning team.
5. Risks typically are tilted toward owners.

Improve productivity and

safety with training
Many new hires come from work in
agriculture or hail from urban areas where
jobs are scarce. New hires may know
little about mining and construction.
Consequently, behavior and culturallybased safety training needs to be produced
in ways that better communicate with
these individuals, taking into account their
cultural, language and delivery needs.
The future lies in training simulations that
familiarize staff with technical equipment
prior to opening new mines and processing
plants. Simulation-based operator training,
as part of the project execution phase,
helps to accelerate operational readiness.

19

4. Integrate information systems among

capital projects players
Ideally, data standards are set early
on and promote integration through
the project. Virtually everyone in the
project life cycle needs convenient
access to reliable and updated
informationthe most recent and
accurate version of the truth.
Project progress cannot be effectively
monitored if proper standards are not
established and systems are poorly
integrated. Rules of credit need to be
established early to measure engineering,
procurement and construction progress,
which will then lead to more accurate
progress reporting. Procurement
functions, which sometimes are split
between the owner, EPCs/EPCMs
and construction contractors, need
to be consolidated to provide better
accounting and management of procured
equipment and materials for projects.
Above all, the construction management
functions and progress data need
to be integrated with startup
and commissioning tasks, so that
production start dates are met.

20

Improve integration for

speed and effectiveness
Integrated data helps project teams
improve effectiveness, and a number
of automated tools can help build
collaboration and boost productivity.

Virtual tools
Virtual tools, including next-generation
portals, help to bring project teams
together, enabling collaboration,
knowledge management and learning.

Knowledge management
Due to high turnover, knowledge
management systems are essential.
Formal processes need to be implemented
and documented rather than continuing
to rely on internal knowledge of
people who are nearing retirement.

Performance management
Integrated information systems and
KPIs give project managers a stronger
handle on the cost of mine development
from region to region, and among
product groupings. This data can
result in leading practices, supplier
rationalization and cost reduction.

5. Accelerate operational readiness

Leading performers are marginally

better at making the transition from
projects to operational readiness,
but nearly every survey respondent
has room for improvement.
To avoid rework and delays, organizations
need to assess, approve and communicate
changes to relevant parties before
proceeding. Margin loss of up to 30
percent can be avoided by supporting high
production levels from initial operations.

Conduct operator
training in parallel with
construction
Operator training ideally should be
conducted ahead of the early stages
of start-up and commissioning
functions during the intermediate-tofinal stages of construction. As noted
in the Recommendation section on
managing scarce talent, simulations
use advanced technology to give
operators a realistic look at what
they will be doing on day one.

IT capabilities used in up-front

planning ideally support more efficient
commissioning. When people from
operations are brought in to give input to
design and delivery during planning, they
take greater ownership in the new assets
under development.

Eliminate manual
processes whenever
feasible
Checking equipment for the purposes
of commissioning provides an example
of how manual procedures slow down
the process, adding to costly delays.
Technicians tend to manually enter data
onto sheets that is manually re-entered
into a system at the site office, and then
manually checked against drawings. By
segregating technical from transactional
activities, project teams can implement
more remote services to make better use
of scarce talent at the site.

21

Conclusion
Throughout the project life cycle, keep the end
objective in mind
Comprehensive approaches are required to manage the increasing
scale and complexity of capital projects. The traditional
project management focus needs to be broadened well beyond
aspects of engineering and procurement. Todays projects call
for increased focus on governance, human capital strategy,
and integrating information systems with business partners
and operations. Given the severe talent squeeze, finding the
best resources to execute a companys capital projects is
critical, and coordination among all partners is essential given
the cost and complexity of multibillion-dollar projects.
Mining and metals companies need robust solutions. It helps to
look at vast projects with the end in sight, and then methodically
break them into sub-projects that can be managed in pieces
to address the risks at each stage. At a high level, some of the
ways to do this include improving front-end loading, addressing
project gaps and monitoring the project after objective
peer reviews. A strong project management organization
is essential for megaprojects with multiyear horizons.
Addressing cost and time objectives of capital projects is a
prime opportunity to achieve competitive advantage. Ideally,
capital projects should be run as high-stakes businesses with
targeted objectives, clear delivery strategies and careful
monitoring to track progress toward high performance.

22

23

Reference
1

Figures in $US unless otherwise noted.

Accenture Research, 2012 Capital IQ.

Industrial Info Resources, Oxford

Economics.

Global Operating Models for Mining

Companies, Accenture, November2010,
www.accenture.com.

Sherritt. Environmental Assessment

Ambatovy Project Summary,- January
2006, page 31. www.sherritt.com

About the authors

Jos J. Surez is the managing director
for Accentures North American Mining
industry group. He has more than 25 years
of experience in engineering, procurement
and construction (EPC); engineering,
procurement and construction management
(EPCM), and start-up and operations of
major industrial plants for the mining, the
power (coal-fired, combined cycle, and gasfired), the pulp and paper, the oil and gas
and the cement industries, and business/
corporate management. In the mining
sector, Mr. Surez has worked on copper,
nickel, alumina, iron ore, steel, gold, potash,
and titanium projects/operations. His
experience spans program management,
business process management and capital
projects around the world.
j.suarez@accenture.com
Amy M. Callahan is the managing director
of Accenture Capital Projects Services.
Based in Denver, Ms. Callahan has more
than 14 years of experience as an industry
and functional executive and consultant
to the Resources industries across capital
projects and operations.
amy.m.callahan@accenture.com
John E. Lichtenstein is the managing
director of the Accenture Metals industry
group and also leads the Accenture
Natural Resources group (metals,
mining, forest products and building
materials) for the Asia Pacific region.
Based in Beijing, Mr. Lichtenstein has
more than 25 years of experience as an
industry executive and consultant to the
global metals and mining industries.

Special thanks to other

contributors
James Arnott
Rachael Bartels
Paul Bjacek
Michael Grady
Matthew Govier
Khayyam Jahangir
Segran Pillay
Charlotte Raut
Carmen Uys

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management
consulting, technology services and
outsourcing company, with 257,000
people serving clients in more than
120 countries. Combining unparalleled
experience, comprehensive capabilities
across all industries and business functions,
and extensive research on the worlds
most successful companies, Accenture
collaborates with clients to help them
become high-performance businesses and
governments. The company generated net
revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal
year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is
www.accenture.com.

john.e.lichtenstein@accenture.com

Copyright 2012 Accenture

All rights reserved.
Accenture, its logo, and
High Performance Delivered
are trademarks of Accenture.
This document is produced by consultants
at Accenture as general guidance. It is not
intended to provide specific advice on your
circumstances. If you require advice or further
details on any matters referred to, please
contact your Accenture representative.

12-2375 / 02-5527