Project support is the mainstay of any project and actively supports all the phases of the project from planning through monitoring and control to closing. Our range of project management services include:
Our range of project management services will ensure that your project is scoped and planned correctly, that process controls are in place and critical documentation on hand to guarantee that your project is delivered on time, within budget, according to the scope and as per the quality criteria stipulated.
Project managers and their teams will benefit from our key strengths: team integration, well established methodologies, a disciplined, pro-active approach to monitoring controls, and quality deliverables.
Defining the objectives and scope of a project is the first step to ensuring that projects start out well.
Once this first crucial step is performed, a project is well on its way to success – as the roadmap is unambiguous and all further planning is based on clearly defined goals.
We follow a well-established methodology for planning and developing schedules and work packages. Our schedules are “living documents” which follow the progress of the project using dynamic techniques.
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These techniques not only provides a realistic view of the project, but also ensure that project schedule reporting is relevant and a true reflection of the progress.
We believe in being wholly involved and enmeshed in a project. It is the only way to provide the best service and obtain the desired outcomes.
We are part of the owners / project team and directly support the project manager in reaching the goals of the project.
In order to be most effective, we are on-site with our clients and spend most of our time in direct contact with the project team.
Document management is, and will always remain, a topic of discussion around “what is enough / too much”.
We believe in tailoring our document management offering to the needs and size of the project to ensure efficacy and efficiency, rather than applying the same methodology without regard for the project requirements.
We make use of various platforms for document management, ranging from online hosted platforms to traditional folder structures on the client’s server.
We are passionate about record keeping and document management, and believe that no project can function without it.
As with any discipline, various criteria for managing and delivering projects exist.
We pride ourselves in our internationally accredited staff members who apply best-practice principles to projects and project controls to ensure that projects comply to industry standards and/or client-specific governance.
Project Management Brochure
Project Support Brochure
Project Support (French)
Growing up during the Space Age, Jaco dreamt of becoming an astronaut, ready to explore and push the boundaries. Jaco was born in the Northern Cape town of Kuruman and grew up in Kathu and in the Western Cape town of Wellington.
Jaco’s career started in the Defense Force, where he spent 15 years. At the pinnacle of Jaco’s Defense Force career, he reached the level of Infantry Sergeant-Major. His time at the Defense Force unlocked a great passion in him to train, mentor, and coach others.
In 1999, Jaco decided he was ready to make a career change, and he ventured into Project Management. Rob Alcock was a great influence on Jaco, and he assisted Jaco to map out a path to entry into Project Management, and ultimately obtaining his PMP. Jaco shares that the most satisfying aspect of Project Management is “seeing the product being developed, moving from the design phases to the development or construction of the end product.”
Outside of work, Jaco is a father to two amazing young adult daughters, Catherine and Dane. He enjoys staying active and did road running for 12 years, mountain biking for 6 years and lately, he enjoys a few rounds of golf or relaxing with a fishing rod in hand.
As the Principal Project Manager at VBKOM, he is most excited to help his team members reach their goals and grow the project management service by challenging the status quo and developing original solutions.
Born and raised in Pretoria, Netterine was a late bloomer in terms of career aspirations. She fostered a passion for horses but did not quite see herself making a career of it in the limited market that South Africa offers, and so opted to study industrial design. The first few years of her career were spent in product design, after which she made a deliberate move into the project management environment.
When talking about her career change, she shares, “My career has been such a journey! When I went to university, I really had no idea what I wanted to do or what made me happy, despite extensive psychometric testing and exploration. In hindsight, I just wasn’t exposed to that many options, and so when I was introduced to the concept of project management, I instantly related to the structure, the rules, and intentionality of it, and it gave me butterflies in my stomach knowing that I finally found my “thing”. There has been a lot of trial and error, and with every year of knowing and understanding myself better, my path going forward becomes clearer.
I would say my most significant career lesson has been to forgive yourself and others, as we all make decisions based on what we know at the time, and that probably differs from what we know now.”
Aside from being a project management professional and a passionate equestrian, Netterine also wears the hat of being a wife to her best friend, Stefan. They have been married for seven years, and they share their home with their three dogs.
Netterine likes to unwind after a long day at the office with a glass of good wine and hopefully sushi and believes that this combination can fix just about any problem that you might face.
Lynsey grew up in Durban and completed her studies in Geology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She moved to Gauteng in 2014 to start her career as a Mining Geologist on the West Wits Goldfields. She worked on three of the world’s deepest mines over a 5-year period before making a career change into Project Management with VBKOM to expand on her skills and expertise. She enjoys learning new skills and combining them with her Mining background to deliver innovative solutions to clients.
In 2019 she decided to pursue her passion for finance and investing and started studying towards gaining the CFA charter. Lynsey enjoys pushing her limits and is always open to new and exciting challenges. She values honesty and loyalty, and her logical and analytical nature means she does not take decision-making lightly.
Lynsey has an adventurous spirit and is very passionate about skydiving. She has been involved in the sport since 2015 and plans to start wingsuiting within the next few months to experience real human flight. She loves to travel with her partner and friends, and has been to several countries across Africa, Europe, and Asia, but still plans to visit the rest of the continents over the next few years. She also loves nature and being out and about, so enjoys hiking and trail running whenever she can.
Tiffany is always up for a laugh, a chat, or a challenge. She brightens up any room she walks into, and she is able to captivate her audience with her big smile and open and positive attitude.
Growing up, Tiffany’s parents quickly noticed that she likes organising everything and anything. They wanted Tiffany to choose a career path that will be naturally suited to her, and they had her complete three aptitude tests, and the results of all three tests indicated that Tiffany should venture into operations or project management.
Tiffany is one of the hardest workers you will ever cross paths with, and when she talks about her work, she shares that the most satisfying aspect of her role is, “being able to create structure and adding value to my client’s projects”.
At home, Tiffany enjoys spending time with her family, around a braai. She comes from a family of really good project managers and loves to listen to her parents and siblings sharing their work and life experiences with her. Even though she is the youngest, she aspires to be the best project manager her family has ever seen.
Tiffany is the proud mommy of little Luna, a cute black Pug puppy, and also has some chickens, goats and rabbits.
Brendon grew up on a farm just outside of Senekal in the Free State. Growing up, he wanted to become a farmer, but as he got older, Urban Planning started tweaking his interest.
He enrolled at the North West University where he studied Urban and Regional Planning. In Brendon’s final year at University, one of his subjects was ‘Project Management’, and he shares, “I realized that Project Management was something I was very passionate about and something I would like to pursue in the future”. Consequently, he enrolled in Project Management courses to further expand his knowledge. Brendon worked in the Town Planning industry for 2 years before pursuing his true passion - Project management.
In project management, Brendon has found that the most fulfilling aspect was having the opportunity to work with people and to satisfactorily address each clients’ personalized requirements.
To relax, Brendon enjoys playing golf every opportunity he gets, or sitting back and watching sports. He says that his hidden talent is predicting the outcomes of rugby and football games, and jokingly says, “I’m pretty good at Superbru.”
In the future, he is eager to overstep language barriers by learning to speak Zulu. He also plans several international travel expeditions where he can enrich his cultural and adventurous soul.
Karen was born in the quaint little town of Waterval-Boven before moving to Pretoria at the age of six. Karen has a great love for animals and growing up she wanted to own an animal rescue center.
After matriculating from the Hoërskool Oos Moot in Pretoria a family friend introduced her to the mining industry, and she says, “I have loved this industry ever since.” She joined the VBKOM-family in January 2022 and forms part of the Project Management and -Support technical delivery team.
Her deadline-driven, flexibility, and communication skills set the perfect platform for working under pressure and delivering quality project management and -support services to her employers and clients. She strives to create memorable experiences and serve her clients beyond expectations.
Outside of work, Karen and her husband, Brent, enjoy going on road trips on his BMW motorcycle, and one of the most memorable trips they took was to Cape Town. Karen is a proud mom of her two children, her adult son and daughter. She and her husband have five pets which include dogs and birds.
A highly motivated, detail orientated person with a track record of hard work, diligence and commitment. Her strongest assets include her ability to learn and adapt quickly. Grace prides herself on following through with projects and providing first-class customer service. With strong communication skills and analytical abilities, along with a willingness to perform tasks above and beyond what is required.
Namibian-born Jani grew up all over Namibia, and by the age of 11, her family moved to Potchefstroom, and finally to Pretoria. When Jani was younger, she dreamed of becoming a Rally Driver, and shares “I might still become one!”
Jani started at VBKOM in the Project Management department in 2011 and shares, “Providing project management services within the mining industry, has taught me that a can-do attitude, excellence, and innovative solutions make all the difference in our delivery to our clients.”
With the organizational redesign that VBKOM went through and Jani’s great passion for seeing the VBKOM clients’ successes being realised, she made the big decision to pursue the challenges of a Business Development role. She will harness her project management knowledge and skills to identify the possibilities and craft solutions to the benefit of not only the VBKOM clients’ but of the whole of VBKOM.
Outside of the work environment, Jani’s hobbies include crafts, do-it-yourself projects, being outside and extensive gardening, she shares that she has about 200 plants in her greenhouse, of which her orchids are her favourite.
Training Programmes
Wednesday, June 8, 2022 | George Olivier
VBKOM was successfully showcased at the 16th West African Mining and Power Expo (WAMPEX), which was hosted at the Accra International Conference Centre in Ghana from 1 to 3 June 2022.
Tuesday, June 7, 2022 | Manie Kriel
Group CEO, Manie Kriel, attended the eighth annual Junior Indaba, which took place on 1 and 2 June 2022 at the Country Club Johannesburg in Auckland Park. This year the organisers created a hybrid event that allowed people to attend both in-person and online.
Friday, May 27, 2022 | Chantelle van der Walt
It is with great pleasure that the VBKOM Management team and shareholders announce the promotion of two members of the executive leadership team to directors: Lalieu Marais and Strauss Oosthuizen.
Thursday, May 26, 2022 | Tiaan Ackermann
Attending the first in-person Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town since the world-wide pandemic was well-attended by industry leaders, investors, and global mining industry government representatives and Heads of State.
Thursday, April 7, 2022 | George Olivier
The global pandemic influenced the world’s economy by disrupting supply-chains through shortages and price inflations.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has disrupted global supply chains even further. The multitude of sanctions and boycotts imposed on Russia by multiple Western countries has led to worldwide fears of energy shortages, possible famine, and inflation.
Wednesday, December 1, 2021 | Chantelle van der Walt
On 12 November 2021, the VBKOM team came together to celebrate a wonderfully blessed year. After the tremendous effort the team has put in during the entire 2021, it was time to reflect and have some serious fun.
Monday, November 29, 2021 | George Olivier
In an effort to contribute to the overall growth of the global market, Enterprises University of Pretoria (Enterprises UP) together with experts from the Department of Mining Engineering at the University of Pretoria (UP) successfully presented the Open-Pit Mine Planning and Design course to delegates from various mining houses in South Africa.
Thursday, November 11, 2021 | Chantelle van der Walt
The annual Golf Day hosted by the Department of Mining Engineering (DOME), University of Pretoria, is one of those key events the VBKOM-team looks forward to.
This year was no different, and on the 5th of November 2021, eight VBKOM golfers set out to play a round of golf in celebration of DOME’s 60th anniversary.
Monday, July 5, 2021 | Tiaan Ackermann
The long-standing professional relationship between VBKOM and Kudumane Manganese Resources (KMR) dates back to 2010. Since then, VBKOM has been involved with numerous assignments for KMR and its parent entity, Asia Minerals Limited (AML).
Thursday, May 27, 2021 | Chantelle van der Walt
A geological model forms the foundation of the mining value chain, upon which all resultant assumptions are based – from initial target delineation to Mineral Resource estimation to final reserving and metallurgical processing.