In an interview with Insights Success, President and Co-founder of Burgex Inc., Stuart Burgess, shares valuable information on Burgex Inc. and its remarkable contribution to the mining industry. Burgex Inc. has staked over 250,000 acres of mining claims for its clients and has experience working in every Western State and across the world. It has provided exploration services and consulting on hundreds of projects for minerals ranging from construction sand and gravel to base metals through industrial minerals. It is currently primarily focused on the United States, but has provided services on international projects as far away as Saudi Arabia.
Below are highlights from the interview conducted between Stuart Burgess and Insights Success:
Give a brief overview of your company, its solutions.
Burgex Inc. is a mining consulting services company that specializes in mineral exploration, mining claim staking, landman services, general mine consulting, and the access and documentation of abandoned mine sites throughout the Western United States and the world. The founders of the company are fueled by a passion for mineral exploration and are enthusiastic about providing excellent service to their clients. We love helping Canadian and Australian publicly traded junior mining companies navigate the claim staking, exploration, and mineral rights management process for their US based projects.
Describe the ways in which your mining solutions are focused on being customer centric.
Every project is different, and it can be difficult to navigate the mineral rights acquisition and management process here in the U.S. We leverage our experience to help you move your project forward in a way that is efficient and accurate. Not every solution is going to be appropriate for every project, so we craft a plan that works for our clients by minimizing unnecessary expenses and saving time. We take time to attend conferences and read the latest information on a variety of mineral exploration technology and mineral rights law in order to be able to provide the best services to our customers.
Describe the experiences, achievements or lessons learnt that have shaped the journey of your company.
Initially we focused only on providing technical access and exploration of abandoned mine sites throughout the Western United States. While this was a very niche segment of the exploration industry to focus on, it gave us a very unique look into the inner workings of many different types of ore deposits. It also gave us the great experience of being able to observe the evolution of mining techniques from over a hundred years. Our growth into claim staking, mineral rights management, project planning, due diligence, and exploration consulting services was really driven from these simple beginnings by our clients themselves. They really appreciated the work we were doing for them and pushed us toward expanding our services so that they could have a dependable firm to handle multiple aspect of their project. On some projects we have handled everything from initial sampling and prospecting all the way through claim staking, exploration permitting, testing, drilling, geophysics, preliminary feasibility studies, mine planning, and the eventual sale of the project to a larger group. Almost every year since we were founded we have started offering a new service based on our clients’ needs.
I think we know we are doing a good job because almost all of our business comes through referrals from existing clients. As long as that is still the case, we know we are on track and still growing organically.
What are your thoughts on mineral exploration in the mining industry?
Mineral exploration is critical to the mining industry and really provides all the substance for future growth. Even within existing mines that have been operating for many decades there is still a process of mineral exploration for the development and de-risking of new resources. The mineral exploration segment of the mining industry can be a wild place and it is changing all the time. New technology and shifting economics are continually driving new technological advancements and geological models for discovery. The latest trend toward the identification and development of metal deposits used in the manufacturing of batteries has led to a shift in the exploration projects that are being funded and developed over the last five years – it will be exciting to see which of these projects make it all the way through feasibility and into production!
What are the evident challenges in the mining industry and what are your strategies to tackle these challenges?
There are numerous challenges that are facing the mining industry right now and we see a lot of them from the cutting edge of exploration. Increasing environmental regulation, geopolitical tensions, looming trade wars, and a shrinking professional base are some of the key challenges that we see right now. One of the most acute on the exploration side is the lack of new engineering and geology professionals entering the field. Unfortunately, it seems like many of the brightest minds have chosen to get into tech instead of mining and exploration and similar traditional industries. We have tackled this problem by identifying bright candidates still in college and bringing them into the company to start getting experience while they are in school. We think this will give us a great advantage by having fresh in-house talent that is starting out with a diverse basket of real experience. I think the mineral exploration and mining industries also have a large PR problem when it comes to driving home the point that minerals are necessary for life – they are in everything, and to a very large extent an integral part of the deployment of green technologies. Electric cars and renewable energies are all dependent on a very large network of different mines around the globe. It would be nice to see a larger domestic supply develop for a lot of these key resources.
What is your perception on mining exploration in relation to climate change?
Climate change is a hot button issue within many industries and mineral exploration is no different. The potential environmental impact of every mining project is something that needs to be considered from the very beginning of an exploration project. In many ways potential environmental impact is considered by default as economics commonly dictate the placement of a project and things such as transportation distance and overall energy use are considered to determine if a project warrants further development. A project that is economically sound will generally also include energy, transportation, and other efficiencies that are more environmentally friendly and less impactful overall. In other ways the commodity being explored can also have a large impact on the environment overall, many of our clients have shifted their focus recently toward exploring for minerals that are critical to the development of electric vehicles and renewable energy. These minerals include lithium, cobalt, and copper.
According to you, how technology is playing role in shaping the mining industry?
I just recently read an article that Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest mining companies, has begun using an autonomous railway system in Australia to service several of its large mines. This technology has the potential to save the company money, but will also likely result in a safer and more efficient system. Cost savings and safety are two of the largest factors that are driving technology in mining applications by using autonomous technology we are within a decade of having mines that operate without having human miners in them at all. This will allow us to access deeper and richer ore bodies that have been inaccessible due to the constraints of the human body. This includes ultra-deep mines such as those found in South Africa, but will also allow us to start mining at the bottom of the ocean and in other hard to reach places.
Within the mineral exploration industry we are seeing a huge impact with drone technology and with geophysics. Within our company we have been able to recently leverage GIS technology and existing project data with new data collected by our drones to define and refine drilling targets. This ultimately will improve the accuracy of exploration projects and will reduce the risk to our clients and their investors. The ability to visualize an exploration project in 3D has also led to a greater understanding between engineers, geologists, and the executive team which has allowed for better decision making. In the mining stage this leads to better planning and reduced risk, which works out well for everyone.
Where do you see Burgex Inc. in the long run and/or what are its future goals?
Burgex has been growing quickly over the last few years and plans on continuing to grow and seek new ways to provide better services to its clients. We would like to be in a position within the next five years where we are setting the standard for claim staking and mineral rights management services. This would include creating a system where our clients can track their claims and associated filings in real time. We think that there is a lot of potential in improving the current system of claim staking and filing. On the exploration and consulting side of the business we are always looking for ways to improve the process and streamline the discovery and proving of new resources. We would like to expand our drone and mapping services and push the limits of what is currently available in the industry.
Testimonials by clients
“Working with the professionals at the Burgex group has been a blessing for us as we have been clients of Burgex Inc. for over more than a year and a half. Finding such a dedicated, committed and communicative group, strong in process and stronger even in delivering results, has allowed us to move on many more fronts and accomplish what would have been inconceivable just by working on our own. Their knowledge and experience base on title issues, advice on regulatory processes, their ability to access and process multiple relevant databases of information and communicate results clearly has helped our group move decisively on projects with a strong competitive advantage. I know they have my back covered, and will look forward to working with them going forward as much as possible!” – Jean-Pierre (JP) Jutras, B.Sc Hons geology, P.Geol, President/Director, Jade Leader Corp. TSXV:JADE
We have utilized the mining consultation services of Burgex Inc. for several years to provide technical due diligence, market analysis, and valuation reports. The overall timeliness, quality, level of detail, and thoroughness provided by Burgex in their analysis of marketability and valuation, across various mineral types, is above and beyond those of other providers of similar services. Chris Devine, Chief Operating Officer, Green Rock, LLC
We have worked closely with Burgex Mining Consultants for a number of years. Our experience with Burgex has been unparalled, with respect to the precision of professional services Burgex provides to us, very economically. In fact, we absolutely rely on Burgex. Burgex personnel are not only extremely professional, they are also extremely pleasant to work with. They are capable problem solvers! –Tom L. Lee, PhD, JD, President, Montana Gold Inc.
About the Leader
Stuart Burgess has been involved in Burgex since the very beginning and his passion for mining, mining history, and mineral exploration have really been a driving force behind the company’s growth and expansion into new segments of the industry. He enjoys being personally involved in most of the company’s projects and is always looking for ways to improve the services that Burgex provides and give greater value to its clients.
