Article first published in Global Business Reports’ Ontario Mining and Toronto’s Finance Hub 2026. Reprinted with permission.
What have been some of the highlights for Ausenco in 2025?
Zimi Meka: The main highlight has been the sustained growth of projects moving from feasibility study to development. We are seeing significant momentum across jurisdictions, driven by the global critical minerals story and the geopolitical push to decouple supply chains from China.
Yan Jin: In Ontario, we have supported key clients such as Mayfair Gold and Generation Mining in progressing their projects further. From our Ontario base, we are now also supporting major efforts in Québec, Europe and the US, making 2025 a tremendous year for our office.
How is Ausenco approaching tailings reprocessing and legacy mine rehabilitation?
Zimi Meka: Tailings reprocessing represents both an environmental and commercial opportunity, and with tens of thousands of abandoned sites in North America, we have established a dedicated team over the last three years to identify legacy tailings facilities that are technically and economically suitable for retreatment.
What technologies are shaping Ausenco’s engineering strategy today and into the future?
Yan Jin: From a mineral processing perspective, several technology themes are shaping our discussions with clients, including coarse particle flotation, various energy efficiency improvements across the flowsheet, ore sorting solutions that can optimize resource utilization, and new approaches such as DLE. All of these reflect a broader client push toward lower cost, lower energy and higher recovery solutions.
Zimi Meka: From a global systems standpoint, one of our largest strategic initiatives is the organization and utilization of the hundreds of terabytes of project data we have accumulated over the past three decades, and we see AI and machine learning as critical tools to unlock that value by making the data accessible and actionable in real time.
How do you view the current mining cycle compared to previous cycles experienced by Ausenco?
Zimi Meka: I do not necessarily view the current environment as a classic bull market, but rather as a period of structural change driven by decarbonization and geopolitical realignment, where governments are trying to secure critical commodities while facing the reality that mining is a long-cycle industry. Identifying quality assets and bringing them into production requires time and discipline, and one of the main lessons from earlier cycles is that companies can actually go broke during good times without realizing it.
Yan Jin: Clients now seek deeper, long-term strategic partner[1]ships rather than purely transactional engagements, and many owners are operating with leaner internal teams while looking for more integrated execution models.
How does Ausenco manage long-term relationships during periods of M&A and leadership turnover?
Zimi Meka: M&A activity can be complex because we may have a very strong relationship with one party and a less developed relationship with the other, which means that when a transaction occurs, we sometimes need to rebuild or expand our network within the new organization, but we mitigate this by maintaining a broad client base and by planning potential scenarios.
Yan Jin: In Ontario, strong relationships with our active clients mean that they become internal champions for Ausenco within their organizations, and as long as we consistently deliver value and align with their objectives, they tend to carry that positive advocacy through management changes or corporate transactions, which helps maintain continuity for us on the ground.
What are your priorities for growing Ausenco in 2026?
Yan Jin: My priority is to strengthen Ausenco’s role as a trusted partner to our clients by building deeper relationships and consistently demonstrating that we can deliver fast, lean and thoughtful solutions that align with their strategic and technical goals. We are very well-positioned to support the full project life cycle, from early-stage studies through execution and closure. I intend to leverage that comprehensive offering to further enhance our reputation, expand our client base, and grow our presence across Ontario and the projects supported from our office.
Zimi Meka: Our foremost priority globally is to preserve and strengthen our culture during this growth phase, because that culture is central to how we create value for clients and how we differentiate ourselves in the market. We aim every day to find a better way in everything we do, to add real value to our clients, and to build long-term, sustainable relationships.