Book Review: Modern Management in the Global Mining Industry

Modern Management in the Global Mining Industry is unique in its approach, looking at critical aspects of mineral economics from first principles and an applied industry perspective, in the process highlighting some of the myths and management-led distortions in common industry management and economic practices.

The content of the book draws upon firsthand experiences from the 40-year career of the author, Robin G. Adams, principally from his longtime association with independent mineral economics consultancy CRU Group. Robin, sadly, passed away in 2014, focusing his last few months on writing this book and finishing it the day before his passing. The book was subsequently finalised and brought into publication by his wife, Judith, and long-time colleagues Christopher Gilbert and Christopher Stobart.

Advance praise at the start of the book is drawn from Professor John E Tilton (Colorado School of Mines), Professor Marian Radetzki (Luleå University of Technology) and Dr David Humphreys (Former Chief Economist of Rio Tinto and Norilsk Nickel) signalling the quality of the content.

The book is reminiscent of Philip Crowson’s excellent Inside Mining: The Economics of the Supply and Demand of Minerals and Metals, published some 20 years earlier. It presents a minerals economics perspective that speaks to the ‘way the global mining industry and commodity markets actually work’.