with the support of Ausenco, GPR Dehler, HSBC & Outokumpu

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How better to open a new Sydney Mining Club season than with a visit from the mining industry’s very own Richard Branson – Robert Friedland. We realise that he is quite capable of doing his own promotion without our help - but it is not a bad analogy.

In 2004 Ivanhoe will unveil plans for its Turquoise Hill mine. Australia, Robert says, will play a vital role in supplying technical expertise and already Ausenco, AMC Consultants, SRK and Minproc are hard at work. Himself a legendary time-zone-surfer, he says ‘commerce flows better north-south than east-west’ to underscore the Australia-Mongolia connection he seeks to build on. And the Ivanhoe move into China and the Australian activity? Hear about those too.

The emergence of Robert Friedland as a large scale mineral developer marks a generational change away from ‘the major mining company’ model. In the early 70s it took a company like CRA to open a frontier like PNG to modern mining with a mine like Bougainville. Today Robert Friedland is doing a similar job in finding a much-needed source of wealth for Mongolia’s 2.8 million people with the Turquoise Hill project. If that sounds a bit altruistic – it may interest you to know Robert’s first significant enterprise was the Fred Hollows-like SEVA project in nearby Nepal in the 70s where many millions were raised to combat endemic blindness. It seems every Friedland observer has favourite stories from his rich career and his supporters thrive on his high-octane promotional style… In presentations, he describes the Gobi desert’s bare geology as ‘naked rocks’ and the size of Ivanhoe’s Mongolian tenements as being ‘one-and-a-half-hours-long travelling at Mach 0.9’ (in a Gulfstream jet of course). With 17 drill rigs on the ground he says ‘we think a mine would improve the landscape’. Canada he describes as ‘Soviet Kanukistan’. And when Forbes magazine recently talked down Ivanhoe’s Mongolian interests he went for their throat. And for the poor old cynics – well sometimes it seems they are being spoon fed too! And after the applause they still admit – he’s got the touch. Robert Friedland is one of mining’s great speakers. Don’t miss it!

PS Slated for March 4th is Adelaide Resources, Avoca Resources and Red Metal in a South Australian special. And April 1st we hope to have Glencore’s Michael O’Keefe.

RSVP Tuesday prior - Booking Form below and 'back' on SMC home page