RPMGlobal's new president Americas, Patel has spent 15 of his 25 years in mining in operations and was corporate manager, mineral processing and metallurgy at Kinross Gold Corp before joining RPA.

Philippe Baudry, RPMGlobal executive general manager - advisory services, said the company was seeing strong customer demand, "particularly in the minerals and metals space".

"Akoo's appointment reflects a critical part of our strategy to grow our market share across the Americas. Akoo's depth of consulting and operations experience and track record for success speaks for itself and I look forward to working closely with him," Baudry said.

Patel said RPMGlobal's presence in Canada, USA, Chile and Brazil, and new office in Colombia, positioned it to support clients "across all major mining districts in the Americas".

Other recent strategic hires across the region included the appointment of Sandeep Sandhu as general manager, North America, of RPMGlobal's technology division, and Jackie Wheeler's appointment as manager - Canada of the advisory arm, based in Toronto.