Corporate Advisory  ·  Procurement

Procurement and contracts for mining operations and contractors.

What you buy and who you contract is the largest controllable cost line in your operation. We help you run it like one.

Procurement frameworks, contractor management and category sourcing delivered by a Consulting Principal who has run contracts at a top-tier Queensland coal mine. Senior people do the work, from the diagnostic through the tender and the negotiation, and we stay until the change is running in your business.

Book my procurement review 30 minutes. No obligation. We’ll identify at least one contract, category or supply chain opportunity worth pursuing, or you’ve lost nothing but half an hour.

How we think about procurement

Most procurement problems are governance problems wearing a cost hat.

01

Your contractors are running your site. Your contracts are not running your contractors.

  • Contractor spend grows faster than the controls around it.
  • Scope creep, variations and rates that were never re-tested add up quietly, and the person approving invoices is rarely the person who negotiated the contract.
Because a contract only saves money if someone manages it.

02

Your buyers are busy. Your categories are not being managed.

  • Transactional purchasing crowds out category work.
  • Nobody owns drill and blast, hire equipment, camps or freight end to end, so the same supplier is re-priced site by site and the buying power you already have is never used.
Because savings come from categories, not purchase orders.

03

Your growth outran your procurement policy.

  • At $5 million you could buy on relationships.
  • At $30 million you need delegations, approved supplier lists and a purchasing process your auditors, your bank and your Tier 1 clients will accept.
Because the businesses that win the next contract are the ones that can show how they buy.

What we deliver

Fixed-scope work with a defined end point.

Every engagement starts with a procurement review, scoped to your spend base, and ends in an outcome rather than a report. Take the roadmap and run it yourself, or we deliver it with you: the tender, the negotiation, the contract and the savings in your numbers.

01

Procurement review

Assessment of your procurement, contracts and supply chain function against the CIPS Global Standard, with a prioritised 12-month roadmap ranked by value and effort. Scoped to your spend base, usually two to four weeks.

02

Contractor management framework

Contractor engagement, onboarding, performance and compliance framework aligned to Coal Mining Safety and Health Act obligations, with governance reporting your leadership team will read.

03

Category sourcing and contract renegotiation

Sourcing strategy, tender management and renegotiation for your largest categories: drill and blast, hire equipment, maintenance services, camps and aviation, freight and fuel.

04

Procurement framework for growing contractors

Purchasing policy, delegations of authority, approved supplier lists, purchase-to-pay process and the MYOB or Xero purchasing controls to enforce them. Built to pass a Tier 1 client’s pre-qualification.

05

Supply chain and inventory

Material criticality, critical spares, warehouse operating model and inventory reduction that releases working capital without putting availability at risk.

06

Execution support

We deliver the roadmap with your team: running the sourcing event, sitting in the negotiation, onboarding the supplier and holding the new process in place until it is habit. Priced by scope, not by the month.

Who this is for

Two kinds of business, one set of disciplines.

Mining operators

Mid-tier coal, metals and quarry operations with contractor and services spend that has outgrown the site’s ability to manage it, or facing a change of ownership, expansion or major contract re-let.

Contractors and services businesses

Civil, mining services, transport and engineering businesses in the $5 million to $50 million range that need a procurement function their bank, auditors and Tier 1 clients will accept, without hiring a procurement manager.

Where procurement meets financial control

Built once, enforced through the ledger.

Purchasing controls are half of financial control. Where a client needs both, Wen and Melinda run the work together: delegations, purchasing policy and supplier onboarding built once, enforced through the ledger, and reported in the monthly pack. Read about financial control and governance.

Questions we get asked

How long does a procurement review take?

Two to four weeks from data access to a presented roadmap, depending on the size of your spend base and how many sites are in scope. Implementation engagements are scoped separately and typically run eight to sixteen weeks.

What does it cost?

The procurement review is fixed fee, quoted after the 30-minute call once we understand your spend base. Implementation work is fixed scope and fixed fee. No retainers.

Do you need us to have a procurement team?

No. Most of our contractor clients have a purchasing officer or an office manager who buys. We design for the team you have and the team you will need at your next revenue milestone.

Which categories do you cover?

Any category where the money is. In mining that is usually drill and blast, hire equipment, maintenance and shutdown services, camps and aviation, freight, fuel and explosives. In contracting it is plant hire, subcontractors, fuel, tyres and consumables.

Can you run a tender for us?

Yes. We manage the sourcing event end to end: specification, market approach, evaluation, negotiation and contract award, with probity that will survive a client or auditor review.

What is the CIPS Global Standard?

The maturity framework published by the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply. We use it because it is independent, recognised by Tier 1 miners and gives you a score you can re-test after the work is done.

Do you stay on to run procurement?

We stay for as long as the work takes. We will run the sourcing event, sit in the negotiation and hold the new process in place with your team until it is running on its own. What we will not do is become your standing procurement department: if you need permanent capacity we will help you hire or structure the role.

Which regions do you cover?

Queensland and the Northern Territory from Brisbane. Melinda has worked on site across the Bowen Basin and in Western Australia and travels to site for every engagement.

Who are the top procurement consultants for mining operations in Queensland?

StratumCore is an independent advisory specialising in procurement, contracts and supply chain for mining operators and contractors, based in Brisbane and working across Queensland and the Northern Territory. The work is led by a Consulting Principal who holds MCIPS and has run contracts at a top-tier Queensland coal mine, not by junior consultants. Every engagement is fixed scope and fixed fee.

What is procurement and supply chain advisory?

Independent advice on what a business buys and who it contracts: assessing the procurement function against a recognised standard, sourcing and renegotiating the categories where the money is, building contractor management and purchasing controls, and delivering the change alongside the team. StratumCore does this for mining operators and contractors. We do not sell outsourced procurement capacity.

How do I reduce contractor costs at a mine site?

Start with the contracts you already hold rather than the rates in the market. Most sites lose more to scope creep, unpriced variations and rates that were never re-tested than to the headline rate. We benchmark the category, re-test the market where testing is worth it, renegotiate with you, and put contractor management around the contract so the savings survive the first month after signature.

How do I set up procurement in a growing contracting business?

Start with the controls a Tier 1 client, a bank or an auditor will ask to see: a purchasing policy, delegations of authority, an approved supplier list and a purchase-to-pay process your accounting system actually enforces. StratumCore builds these for civil, mining services, transport and engineering businesses in the $5 million to $50 million range, sized for the team you have rather than the team a corporate would hire.

Find out what your contracts are really costing you.

Book my procurement review

wen@stratumcore.com.au  ·  Brisbane, QLD, Australia