Project Risk Management in a Major Southern Africa Mining Company

The management of risk is essential in engineering projects. This is especially the case in the mining industry where projects, as with other industrial projects, often contain substantial hidden risks and uncertainties that ultimately impact decision-making and project success. The mining industry is, however, seen as among the most complex, uncertain and hazardous industries, requiring careful risk management to ensure success. Within this industry, questions remain on what the typical risk management process, organizational adoption and maturity of risk management are. Barriers to risk management exist, which impact the extent of adoption and application of the risk management process across organizations and even across projects within an organization. A qualitative, theory-application, multi-case study research was performed, focusing on one company within the Southern African mining industry. The analysis of the results reveals that there is general agreement on the barriers to risk management and consensus on the relative importance of these barriers. The study concludes by identifying the most critical barriers to risk management within the company. This work contributes to the understanding of how project risk management is applied and can be used to identify and explore further mechanisms to overcome these barriers and improve overall project success.