EUROMAX RESOURCES

the area , we didn ’ t know Macedonia itself ; what we found was a country that really wanted to develop its natural resources ,” Forward says .

“ When we sat down with ministers and the Prime Minister , we immediately realised that there was a desire to attract foreign investment and develop their resources ; a project of this size can add percentage points to the GDP of a country that size .”

Sustainability For Euromax , measuring the successful construction of the project hinges on

delivering an operation that has as little an impact on the environment as possible and , moreover , makes a positive contribution to society at large . To achieve this end , the miner has examined every link in the chain – from studying the social and archaeological impact of the project , all the way through to engaging with specialist partners

Number of employees at Euromax Resources

to deliver on key outcomes .

Forward explains : “ We have , through the local technical university , got experts on air and water , dust , noise , and socio-economic professors as well . For water services , we worked with WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff ; we particularly chose to have them as dedicated water experts who would be able to talk to all the engineering needs of the project and the environmental impacts .

“ They manage water on-site but also talk to the environmental and social impacts of the project and make sure that all of the other stakeholders are taken care of with respect to water . WSP has been absolutely brilliant in training up our own people .”

An important partner was Geops - a drilling contractor used for the project ’ s drilling , resource , geotechnical and hydrological work . “ Geops has been responsive ,

86 January 2017