Up & Coming Geoscientists - a sample of our AIG Honours Bursary Recipients

“
Arguably the biggest change to the VALMIN Code
is the removal of the principle of Independence.”
The changing Australian regulatory
new committee member, with each working
framework surrounding the VALMIN
group focussed on a set section of the draft
Code necessitated additional stakeholder code. The intent of this process was to share
consultation and resulted in delays to the knowledge and provide fresh perspectives
Valmin Code Changes
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These changes are the result of a review
process that began in 2010 with the VALMIN
Committee undertaking an extensive
stakeholder consultation process. Initially,
this involved interviews with a cross-section
of stakeholders to determine what were
issues that needed to be addressed and
improvements that could be made. Having
gained an insight into stakeholder perceptions,
seminars were run in Perth in October 2011
and a second seminar held in Brisbane in
April 2012. These seminars served to raise
the awareness of the VALMIN Code’s review
process and gain additional feedback. The
VALMIN review process coincided with a
period when a number of significant changes
in regulatory reporting had also come into
effect, such as:
• ASIC Regulatory Guide 111 (Content
of Expert Reports) and 112 RG112
(Independence of Experts) which were
released on 1 March 2011; and
• Finalisation of the draft edition of the
2012 edition of the JORC Code and
the corresponding ASX Listing Rules
(Chapter 5).
process. The initial draft was circulated
in November 2013 to key stakeholders
comprising of AIG, AusIMM, MCA , ASX,
ASIC, PESA and key industry practitioners.
Extensive suggestions and comments on
this draft were received by April 2014, but
unfortunately it took until late 2014 to get the
necessary feedback from all the stakeholders.
Having incorporated the comments from
the regulators, a public exposure draft was
released for comment in April 2015.
To assist in putting the proposed changes to
the VALMIN Code into context and to collate
further feedback, an exposure draft webinar
was held in June 2015 prior to the closure
of the public consultation process on
17 July 2015.
In recognition of the increasing workload
due to the public submissions and subsequent
marketing, the VALMIN Committee was
expanded from seven to twelve members. In
selecting the new members, an emphasis was
placed on diversifying the skill and experience
base of the committee. This expansion
allowed the VALMIN Committee to benefit
from insights from regulatory, legal, JORC
Code and international perspectives.
The public consultation submissions
were allocated to small working groups
comprised of at least one existing and one
on the code. In December 2015 following
engagement with the regulators on the
penultimate draft, the AIG and AusIMM
parent bodies of the VALMIN Code gave their
approval and the finalised document was
publicly released on 13 January 2016.
A side-by-side comparison between the
VALMIN Code (2005 Edition) and VALMIN
Code (2015 Edition) is difficult due to the
reorganisation of the document. The VALMIN
Code now separates technical assessments
and valuations into distinct sections. This
structure makes the document more
readable, easier to follow and more concise
for practitioners only wanting to read the
requirements of a technical assessment.
Arguably the biggest change to the
VALMIN Code is the removal of the principle
of Independence. This former requirement
resulted in the VALMIN Code becoming
a code that was exclusively applied to
consultants. The effect of removing the
Independence principles is that it allows
the author of a report to be an employee
of the commissioning entity, as is the case
with the JORC Code. The author(s) are still
required to be reasonable and objective, and
the Corporations Act, as discussed in ASIC
RG111, outlines when there is a need to be
independent.
AIG NEWS Issue 123 · February 2016 39