Appian Capital Advisory is looking to close two to three mining deals in Africa via its Natural Resources Fund this year, according to Michael W. Scherb, Founder and General Partner.

The Appian Natural Resources Fund is a private equity vehicle that invests in mining companies, assets and management teams across selected geographies and commodities.

“The fund is targeting investments in Africa, Latin America and North America. We manage $375m in the main fund and estimate a similar amount in potential co-investment, mainly from our investors,” Scherb told Africa Global Funds.

In Africa, the fund is targeting opportunities in Tanzania, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Morocco and potentially Senegal and Ethiopia.

“We like base metals (copper, lead, zinc), precious metals (gold, silver, platinum) and some niche commodities. We don’t invest in iron ore, bauxite, diamonds, thermal coal and nickel,” said Scherb.

The Appian Natural Resources Fund, which invests between $30m and $150m is more focused on a multiple of money over a longer hold than IRR.

To date, the fund has made four investments with two in Africa.

Three of the four are fully financed and expect to be in production this year, an impressive feat at the bottom of the cycle, which speaks to the quality of project.

The fund’s investors include leading large pension plans, endowments and family offices with Scherb being extremely thoughtful about the right long term partner to have.

Scherb believes that “now is the great time to be investing in the mining industry”, but investors have to think long-term.

“We would not accept any money from a group that has a short-term focus. It allows us to think through the cycle rather than doing things at the wrong points in the cycle,” he said.

Scherb said that the fund is open to co-investment opportunities.

For example, last year, Appian in partnership with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, invested in Roxgold, a gold exploration and development company in Burkina Faso; and Peak African Minerals, which develops Ngualla Rare Earth Project in Tanzania.

“We co-invest with a lot of investors who want to have access to Africa. The reason that people like us is our ability to manage and run projects. I think they appreciate that level of technical detail that we provide,” said Scherb.

Appian has a team in Johannesburg, comprising of senior members of Anglo-American and Rio Tinto.

“The difference with our fund is that we have an operating team in-house that has built 60 mines around the world already, including 30 in Africa,” he added.

“We understand Africa risk better than most, I believe. We know how to manage risk appropriately. It’s certainly a challenging place, but if you do it correctly and respectfully, then there are certain rewards there over the long term,” Scherb said.

Scherb said that Appian will be raising its second fund at the end of 2016, depending on the pace of deployment this year.