Mine planning …then what?

During the early 90’s when I managed various open-pit contract mines on behalf of one of the biggest contract mining companies, I recall that on more than a dozen of open-pit contracts carried out during my tenure, the mine plans issued by the Mining Company were impractical and unsuitable for implementation. Following discussions with several of our competitors at the time, I realized that the aforesaid was not an exception but rather the norm.

Notwithstanding, during 1996 I embarked upon an aggressive approach to address this skill shortage and established Tacmin, with the specific intention to grow a business which focused on closing the gap between technical and practical mining. Based upon observations made following 18 years of servicing mining clients on more than 50 multi-commodity open-pit mines across Africa, I can with regret report that the problem I came across in the early 90’s, very much appears to be still relevant today.

Sadly enough, software companies have constantly attempted to address the problem and in my opinion have succeeded to develop more advanced mine engineering and planning software; to the extent that the industry is now reliant upon “software engineers” to solve problems, while the gap between practical and technical continues to widen. In general, the inefficiencies due to this skill shortage was up until now something that could have been absorbed, however in the current economic climate, mining companies continue to contend with price volatility, geopolitical turmoil, rising costs, declining grades and a general lack of access to financing.

In light of the many ongoing challenges, several industry leaders have urged mining executives to sharpen their focus in order to achieve sustainable productivity improvements and embrace new forms of innovation. While many have turned to uncovering hidden costs and restructuring their supply chain, one of the main areas of focus has been flagged as mine planning, with the aim to create effective mine plans and track daily adherence to production volumes. But how do we overcome this with the lack of skills among miners and lack of accepting responsibility by the mining contractor?

Sometime in the mid 2000’s, I recall sitting in a boardroom of one of the mining companies, owner of at least 5 open-pit mines across Africa at the time, attending presentations by mining experts backed by some of the most advanced software on the market, who presented the most lucrative budget forecasts for the medium term. Our involvement was to audit and test the proposed schedules and plans and regrettably we had to point out that the equipment employed at the time did not have the capability to achieve the production levels which were reported. Aforesaid was further enforced by the CEO then, who stated that he has for years seen everything working on paper, but not on the ground.

Since Tacmin has from inception focused on bridging the gap and making their mine plans, schedules and forecasts happen on the ground (and continue to do so), our customers have without fail always benefited while conformance to our mine plans have consistently remained above 90%. Regrettably, we experienced in most instances that mine plans and schedules compiled by others had to be re-engineered by ourselves prior to implementation. People often ask what is the main contributor to Tacmin’s success in this regard, and I always reply that we apply first principles, take responsibility for implementation and religiously track progress against the design, plan and schedule.

Whilst several mining companies may have already experienced that throwing money at the mine plan has not solved the problem, all is not lost for mine owners. Open-pit mining companies can start to regain control of their operations by ensuring that appropriate monitoring is in place. One does not have to sit and wonder, or experience unsatisfactorily results while not being able to establish what is the true cause to non-conformance. After all, as James Harrington put it “Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it.” In fact, an increasing number of mining companies, similar to many other industries, are starting to recognize the benefits of aerial monitoring and its ability to provide quick and comprehensive data and visual observation of an entire mine inclusive of its operations.

In light of the increasing demand for Tacmin’s services, the company has since 2013 re-geared itself to rapidly respond to the needs for faster turnaround of open-pit mines and as a result is now better placed than before to assist customers through an unique blend of services that enable them to:

Monitor mining operations: By establishing and making results transparent to all by means of advanced turnkey aerial and mapping solutions, thereby providing clients with ongoing monthly updates of the as- built situation through aerial surveys for an objective comparison of the mining progress and mine plan conformance, bench-marked against reported schedules and costs.

Conduct audits of all technical and production related matters: Assess the practicality of mine plans and schedules as well as the effectiveness of manpower, equipment and resource capability to comply with the anticipated schedule, and plan and present with the aid of aerial collected data, deviations from the mine plan.

Work in close collaboration with mines personnel: Implementing and rolling-out the mine plan and budget while periodically tracking and monitoring progress against the mine plan becomes the ultimate key to success and sustainable improvement. Having a plan but not implementing it, is as good as not having a plan at all. Mine companies need to ensure that on-site personnel and contractors are properly aligned with the plan and able to carry it through. This can be particularly challenging in some instances given the hostility in mining contractor relationships. In such cases, most companies elect to appoint a Client’s representative or independent party who can take up the responsibility of ensuring a smooth implementation.

Tacmin Madini has a considerable track record of appointments as the Client’s Representative / Engineer in numerous mine optimisation and contractor management assignments. In the aforementioned role, Tacmin assumes the responsibility for various functions such as verification, compilation, approval and management of data, contract agreements, engineering designs, mine plan conformance, progress tracking, measurement, certification, budgets and cost.\

Website: www.tacmingroup.com