The role of a ministry of mines/minerals and a geological survey organisation is of fundamental importance to a country wishing to attract the attention of a mineral exploration company. Without proper organisation of an institution, potential investors can be deterred from entering a market if they are faced with excessive bureaucracy, poorly managed or inappropriate geodata. There can also be potential misunderstandings within the government of the way exploration companies operate, leading to a mis-alignment of expectations.
IGS works with national governments, ministries, and geological surveys to help reform them into more modern and capable institutions and to enable them to understand the expectations and needs of exploration companies.
We have vast experience of working with countries which are seeking to reform their institutions into organisations which better suit the needs of the modern exploration company.
For example, IGS were commissioned by the Botswana government who wanted to create a new and restructured national geoscience institution from the Department of Geological Survey. This organisation, the Botswana Geoscience Institute (BGI), was developed on the premise to assess the geological setting to aid mineral exploration. IGS developed an operational framework for the BGI which included core activities of the organisation, the strategic programme, as well as a funding and business model for the institute to enable the BGI to operate in the long term.