Cornish mining consultancy opens in China

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Wardell Armstrong director Chris Broadbent (3rd from right) with Chinese guests for the formal opening
Wardell Armstrong director Chris Broadbent (3rd from right) with Chinese guests for the formal opening

Truro and Falmouth-based engineering and environmental consultancy Wardell Armstrong has announced the official opening of a representative office in Beijing, at a special launch dinner in the Chinese capital last month.

The dinner was attended, among others, by Dr Huang Shengchu, director of the China Coal Information Institute; Dr Hu Yuhong from the State Administration of Work Safety; Dr Juergen Ritter, head of the EU-China Policy Support Dialogue Facility; Dr Chris Broadbent, director of Wardell Armstrong responsible for the China office; and Philip Shelton, Wardell Armstrong’s resident manager for China.

The new Beijing office in the Chao Yang District demonstrates Wardell Armstrong’s commitment to long term investment in China through a formal presence.

Wardell Armstrong International is a global mining, energy and environmental consultancy with ongoing projects in Europe, Africa and Russia as well as China and central Asia. The company has a long and distinguished history and draws on Cornwall’s mining heritage and expertise in much of its work.

Nick Coppin, managing director of Wardell Armstrong International, said: “The developing Chinese mining industry is a sector that can benefit directly from Wardell Armstrong International’s expertise and knowledge and we are looking forward to working with our partners in Beijing and local engineers.

“Our mining consultancy has always been strong borrowing from Cornwall’s industrial past as well as the present such as the Camborne School of Mines. Wardell Armstrong International is very much part of the region’s knowledge based mining industry, generating new and exciting projects around the world.”

Rapid economic development and the demand for new energy sources to fuel the growing Chinese economy has opened up new opportunities for the experts from Wardell Armstrong beyond the traditional coal mining. This includes the collection and utilisation of coal mine methane to improve safety, make use of a clean energy source and reduce the emission of harmful greenhouse gases.

Wardell Armstrong is helping China to maximise the exploitation of its own resources, fossil and renewable, and therefore avoid dependency on the international oil and raw material market. This includes modern clean coal technologies, generating energy from renewable sources like wind and waste, as well as the effective mining of China’s metal deposits.