Purchasing Trends and Intentions in African Mining, 2014

Synopsis
This report analyses purchasing strategies and expectations for future expenditure on plant, equipment, parts and services in the African mining sector. It is based on an extensive survey conducted by Timetric between July and September 2014, covering 108 mine managers, maintenance managers, procurement managers and other key decision-makers in over 100 operating African mines.

Findings included:

 The most preferred method for acquiring equipment

 Areas where expenditure will increase over the next 12 months, across plant, equipment, parts and services

 Expectations for increased centralization of procurement decisions, and development of preferred supplier arrangements.

Summary
This report analyses purchasing strategies and expectations for future expenditure on plant, equipment, parts and services in the African mining sector. It is based on an extensive survey conducted by Timetric between July and September 2014, covering 108 mine managers, maintenance managers, procurement managers and other key decision-makers in over 100 operating African mines. 

Areas of analysis include:

 Current methods for acquiring equipment, with a review of outright purchasing, rental, leasing and other types of financing arrangements. 

 Future trends in expenditure and expectations for increased or decreased spend in four areas: plant and heavy equipment, equipment parts and components, explosives materials, and maintenance services.

 An analysis of future changes to the number of supplier relationships, and whether respondents expect greater or fewer supplier relationships over the next 12 months. 

 Investigation into the biggest challenges facing buyers and decision makers in sourcing the right products. 

 Extent to which preferred supplier arrangements are in place and predictions for increased centralization of procurement.

Scope
The report is based on an in-depth survey of 108 buyers and decision-makers across 100 mines in 16 African countries, including South Africa, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania Zambia and Zimbabwe

Reason To Buy
 Compare the methods African miners use to acquire equipment, and how this is expected to change

 Plan ahead based on general expectations within the African mining industry for future expenditure, and how this varies by segment, such as mine type, commodity and company size.

 Understand how different customer segments in African mining plan to rationalize or extend their supplier networks

 Identify the major challenges African miners face when sourcing equipment, and incorporate solutions to these in your sales, marketing and product strategies

Key Highlights
 Outright purchase is the most common purchasing method for mining equipment, used by 66% of respondents 

 African miners are optimistic about future expenditure, with the majority of respondents expecting expenditure to increase across all four categories of plant, equipment, consumables and services investigated.

 African miners are increasingly centralizing procurement with 49% of respondents expecting greater centralization of purchasing over the next two years.