Venmyn gateway to mining sector for Deloitte

The purchase‚ which was agreed in December but only concluded this month‚ was for an undisclosed sum‚ the parties said. The purchase will give the new business‚ Venmyn Deloitte‚ a much deeper knowledge pool to draw down on as well as further its international reach‚ said Andy Clay‚ managing director of Venmyn‚ who will head the venture.

"All my life I've been striving to get what we do as mineral asset valuators and report writers joined with auditors and accountants‚" Clay said on Monday (19 November). "Ultimately‚ they're the guys who I think most people still trust as being the final barrier between lies‚ damned lies and the truth‚" he said.

The 25-year-old Venmyn will draw on the global expertise within Deloitte‚ one of the four largest auditing and professional services organisations.

"The criticism often levelled against Venmyn is that we're regarded as too small and not global. At one fell swoop we've knocked that on the head‚" Clay said.

One of the aspects that will need management focus is a merging of cultures‚ he said.

"We're used to being a fast-moving‚ very light ship. They are a fairly significant juggernaut‚" he added.

Deloitte has‚ over a number of years‚ been buying technical and valuation expertise in resources like such as minerals‚ oil and gas.

Clay said he has spent most of the year travelling to Deloitte's offices around the world‚ meeting most of the companies and their partners in the mining‚ oil and gas sectors of the business.

One of the key interests for Venmyn Deloitte is to work with a Deloitte business in Calgary on shale gas‚ Clay said.

"The creation of Venmyn Deloitte is firmly aligned to our continuing strategy to build a world class global energy and resources advisory business" said Carl Hughes‚ global industry leader - of energy and resources‚ at Energy & Resources‚ Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.