Can you give an overview of SGS and the services the company offers to the mining industry in Brazil?

SGS is an over 100-year-old company worldwide and has been present in Brazil since 1938. The company has a natural resources business unit which comprises oil, gas and chemical commodities, agricultural commodities, and mineral and metal commodities. In terms of minerals and metals, SGS Brazil is focused on the trade portion of activities, and we provide the most comprehensive range of inspection, testing, certification and consulting services.

We are in a joint venture with Geosol to support our mining clients with metallurgy, geochemistry and laboratory outsourcing. For the trade portion, we have a team of approximately 200 people within three laboratories and 10 branches located close to the ports to support our customers where the trade is taking place, whereas our JV SGS Geosol has approximately 650 people in Belo Horizonte and 10 branches as well, across the country.

Our natural resource clients are organized into different groups – The Energy group, which consists of coke, coal and energy-related commodities; the Ferrous Metals group, which is pig iron and iron ore; Non-Ferrous metals such as copper, zinc, lithium, and nickel; Industrials, which includes soda ash, gypsum and others; Fertilizers; and Construction Materials. Approximately 60% of our revenue comes from the ferrous and non-ferrous groups, followed by 20% fertilizers and 20% industrial and energy commodities.

How has SGS performed over the past two years?

We have been experiencing double-digit growth for the last five years. Over the last year, SGS has been developing our services on lithium and nickel, pursuing the energy transition space with success and adding new customers to our portfolio.

SGS has also developed a proprietary draft survey tool (DST) ensuring more accurate data readings while decreasing risk for our employees during the draft survey process. Traditional methods of draft reading are somewhat subjective and therefore can be unreliable, but SGS' technologically innovative DST improves on traditional methods by enabling safer and more accurate draft readings. The DST is the only tool on the market that allows inspectors to calculate, with proven accuracy, the weight carried by a vessel, and it is accurate even in swell and windy conditions, where traditional draft reading methods are less accurate.

In terms of SGS’ natural resources services, where are you seeing the biggest demand?

SGS has also been accredited by the Brazilian Navy to inspect for the transportable moisture limit (TML), a critical test we deliver to our customers to make their navigations safe.

We listen to our customers to fully understand their needs and how we can expand our services to better serve them. Implementing digital tools to expedite analytical testing and information to the client is also key as they always ask for speed. We are proud to bring security and confidence to transactions with our end-to-end supply chain transparency and blockchain solutions.

What is SGS’ approach to sustainability and ESG?

ESG has become an extremely important aspect for industries, customers, and stakeholders, and remains a key focus area in SGS' growth strategy. The company is a leader, not only in providing ESG services but also as an active participant in demonstrating best practices. We offer ESG gap analysis services where we do a materiality assessment of an organization’s ESG strengths, weaknesses, and risks, followed by a performance assessment of how the organization is managing ESG issues. An ESG strategy needs to be customized to each individual company. Our extensive experience makes us understand pain points and leverage our global technical expertise and capabilities to ensure realistic sustainability outcomes for our customers.

What are SGS’ main objectives for the next two years?

SGS will continue to position as a reliable partner, ensuring that we have trust in our services, results, and value that we can deliver to our customers.