A balancing act: integrating social awareness with financial success - An interview with Kim Harris, President and CEO of Midlands Minerals Corporation
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Kim Harris, President and CEO
Sian Processing Plant
By Justin Yan
Toronto-based Midlands Minerals Corporation (TSXV: MEX) is forging a different path in the mineral exploration landscape - one, it says, based on integrity and partnership. These, in turn, are values that often stand out in the African mining environment.
To Kim Harris, President and CEO of Midlands Minerals, exploration is all about discovery but she believes it is also more than the sum of its raw parts. After all, it is an operation that involves a myriad of stakeholders on multiple fronts, from shareholders and management to the employees and local communities.
Born in Zimbabwe, Harris has been working in Africa for over 25 years, the last 12 years of which have been in mineral exploration. Previous to that, Harris held the position of director for Africa with the Ontario International Corporation (OIC) for over 10 years. OIC was an agency set up by the Ontario government to seek out business opportunities outside of North America for Canadian companies. Harris worked mainly on capital projects, facilitating contracts for Canadian business in diverse sectors such as hydro power projects, transportation projects, and education.
During her career with the OIC, Harris helped open the door to new business opportunities for Ontario engineering companies such as Acres International in acquiring multi-year contracts in rehabilitating hydroelectric dams in Ghana and Uganda. Other high profile deals include GM Diesel in London, Ontario where Harris brokered a contract to retrofit the derelict rail system in Zimbabwe. Soon thereafter, Canadian mining companies took notice and she began facilitating joint ventures with African firms, a move that exposed her to the mining industry.
Her extensive experience allowed her a well-rounded perspective that led to an inevitable tipping point in her career. "I looked at what I had been doing for the previous 10, 15 years and I thought: Well, why can't I do the same thing?," she said. "The genesis of this company was exactly what I was doing before, except I was doing it not for someone else," she explained.
In 1996, Harris co-founded Sika Resources Inc., a private Canadian exploration company that started with projects in Zimbabwe before acquiring mineral properties in Ghana and Tanzania.
Sika's operations were short lived, however, as political instability in Zimbabwe forced the company to abandon its properties. "We thought we were on a roll until problems started in Zimbabwe" she explained.
Harris and her team were forced to start over again. Midlands became their new exploration company after Sika transferred over its properties in Ghana and Tanzania to give it a head start.
"Zimbabwe had become for us a centerpiece," the CEO said. But the changing politics served as a wake-up call for Harris. "We should never do that again. We should never be in one country and sink all our funds and efforts in one place."
Important lessons were learned from her experiences with Sika, and they are clearly reflected in Midlands' business model. Of the company's project selection criteria, Harris emphasizes operation in stable, democratic countries with a history of mining as well as an acceptance of mining by the local community.
Ghana - one of Africa's pointed economic and democratic successes - fits the bill dead on, having a mining history going back over two hundred years. This is accompanied by a large talent pool of mining professionals, making it easier to hire qualified people locally, explained Harris.
Further to these criteria, the CEO is adamant about knowing the ins and outs of operating in the countries they work in. Harris believes it is imperative to understand the broader legal system, permitting procedures, and tenure laws.
Midlands now owns a total of nine properties in Ghana and Tanzania. Its flagship gold property, Sian, is a fully permitted past producing open pit gold mine located on the Ashanti gold belt in Ghana in close proximity to Newmont Mining's 8.7 million ounce Akyem gold deposit.
The company took over the property in 2006 from Chinese-owned Sian Goldfields Limited after Sian had struggled with strip-ratio problems and escalating costs until finally running out of cash, explained Harris.
The Sian property garnered attention when it became available but Midlands' business strategy allowed it to successfully negotiate an acceptable deal with Sian Goldfields.
"Many were coming in offering money and sometimes money on its own is not what people are looking for. We came in looking for a partnership," said Harris. Midlands now owns a 65% interest in the Sian property, which is less than a year away from production, according to Harris.
The core value of Midlands' business model is mutual benefit. By establishing long-term relationships and recognizing local stakeholders, the company is able to garner co-operation in the countries in which it works. "It's their country so they are better connected than we could ever be so that's how we operate," said Harris. "We would like our shareholders to make a lot of money but you can't do that unless you have local partners that help you acquire those projects and that help you deal with the local issues."
Harris believes that integrity is the guiding principle of the company "In this company, that [integrity] is extremely important because everyone has their reputation and that's not for sale and you cannot buy it back," she said, pointedly.
With the recent push for social responsibility across the board in all industries, Midlands seems to be on the right track in finding a pragmatic - and often difficult - balance between social goals and the bottom line. But none of it seems to be an issue with Harris: "In our case, it's not a problem because we already have that philosophy and social responsibility is not something we need to learn or have it imposed upon us," she said.
It is no doubt that Midlands has gold in its sights. Harris said the company is working diligently to bring its Sian property into production by the end of 2010 despite the challenging economic environment.
To date, the property has a current resource of 400,000 ounces of gold potential at 2.3 grams per tonne and Midlands is focused on pushing that resource to over 1 million ounces through an aggressive program of definition and infill drilling.
The company has recently signed an agreement with South Africa's E+PC Engineering and Projects Company Ltd. to conduct a scoping study of the Sian property, about which Harris is very excited. With the report due at the end of September, the study will focus on options for bringing the plant back into production and will work towards setting the stage for updating the existing feasibility study. "We've got a partner that is very strong, that knows Africa very well," she said, referring to E+PC's extensive experience in operations and project management in Africa.
At the helm of a forward-looking organization, Harris carries with her a wealth of international experience and an attitude that distinguishes her from her peers. Coupled with a strategic and informed business model, Midlands possesses great potential for success.
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