A copper expansion project in the DRC

Company profile

Tiger Resources Limited (ASX: TGS) is a producing copper company with its flagship Kipoi operation located 75km north-west of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its in-country entity, Société d’Exploitation de Kipoi SPRL (SEK) adopted a staged approach to its copper extraction program by first targeting the high-grade copper zone and then in 2013/2014 set about phase 2 of the project to build a 50,000tpa solvent extraction electrowinning (SXEW) plant. As Phase 2 construction commenced, SEK went to tender to secure the services of a suitably qualified HR and Recruitment provider to assist their senior management build a team to operate the new SXEW plant in their copper expansion project.

Assignment background & Scope: Copper Expansion

HR Management plan & expatriate recruitment

• SEK required 10 – 20 expatriate positions to be sourced ranging from Procurement, Training, Finance, Logistics, Maintenance (Planning, Electrical, Mechanical) and Metallurgy.
• All technical positions required previous experience on SXEW plants and candidates had to be willing to work on a 6/3 FIFO roster in and out of the DRC.
• The recruitment process required full end-to-end searches including developing job descriptions, reference checking, coordinating medicals, reporting etc.

Additional HR Management support was required to develop a contemporary and up-to-date set of site-based HR Policies & Procedures including Remuneration & Benefits for the incoming expatriate workforce.

Our solution

Global search team for highly specialist technical roles

The Globe 24-7 group had previously conducted similar programs in Africa and understood the challenges faced working in a developing country like the DRC plus with the critical requirement of attracting those with SXEW skills.

Our marketing team set about to develop a comprehensive above and below the line marketing campaign to attract high calibre candidates to the project.

As the program built momentum, we were able to identify an outstanding group of short-listed candidates who went through a comprehensive interview and selection process.

This process was coupled with weekly and monthly reporting which included metrics to evaluate our performance indicators including:

• Candidates approached by Globe
• Candidates declined by Globe
• Candidates outside of the salary range
• Candidates presented by Globe
• Offers presented and offers approved

The Results

Successfully recruiting key hires with HR support

Globe’s dedicated SEK RPO & HR Consulting team successfully met the requirements of the tender facilitating the employment of the following positions:

• Procurement Manager
• Logistics Manager
• Process Supervisor
• Electrical Superintendent
• Mechanical Superintendent
• Financial Controller
• Training Manager
• Senior Planner
• Senior Metallurgist Advisor

A full suite of HR policies, procedures, forms, checklists and processes was delivered to Corporate HR and site Management that helped SEK make critical business decisions concerning the incoming expatriate employee group.