Traditional mining plans were developed based on targets such as tonnes moved and grade obtained, rather than the how-to required to obtain these targets. Modern planning software has shifted towards a focus on what activities are required to be completed throughout the plan to make it clearer how targets will be achieved by mine operations.
To fully exploit the capabilities of modern planning software, planners need to ensure that all critical activities across the operation are included in the plan. This means that they should not just be planning load and haul activities, but also HDH drilling, production drilling, explosive loading, scaling and drilling pattern preparation. Planners should understand the key duration levers of these activities, as well as the KPI assumptions required to complete these activities e.g. drill metres required and assumed drill rate obtained to meet requirements.
In addition to production activities, top-performing plans should identify accompanying critical tasks, such as battering, buttressing and drainage required to complete production activities.
Once critical tasks have been identified, planners should ensure the right resources are allocated to these tasks. As previously highlighted, the most common reason for a task starting late is the unavailability of equipment. For this reason, resources should only be allocated to one task at any given time within the plan and where possible, back-ups should be identified for equipment known to break down. A good way to ensure this is to include a line-up board and mining schedules within the plan. All tasks must have a person who is accountable for delivery – remembering that accountability is taken, rather than given.
Once you have a plan that clearly outlines the what, who, where and when, an effective hand-off to mine operations should occur to ensure that planners and mine operations are aligned on the plan and the deliverables.
Providing full transparency in planned mining activities is a pivotal shift in paradigm for mining. Activity-based plans enable the operations team to track performance with a more holistic view compared to previous plans, which simply tracked equipment performance and high-level target achievement. Mine operations will need to shift their frame of thinking towards completing activities, particularly those on the critical path – understanding that if they manage the inputs and complete the activities within the plan, the outcomes will take care of themselves.
To ensure mine operations adapt to the new ways of working, daily reviews should be held and contain the following critical elements:Our client, a miner, was in the development phase of an underground mine expansion. The project was more than 30 days behind schedule, and the gap was increasing daily. The client needed to improve the project’s readiness to start activities and completion rates.
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A gold mine had been producing 20% less gold than its target. A significant cause of this under-production was driven by lower grade than planned. This was a result of low spatial compliance, driven by daily planning being misaligned with the weekly plan.
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The shift in paradigm in mine planning from a target-based approach to a mining activity-based approach enables mine operations to take a more holistic view of the activities required to be completed. This results in an increase in compliance to plan and the operation’s ability to reach high-level targets.
Richard manages our global Mining Practice. He has over 10 years’ experience across operational planning, engineering and leadership roles with a focus on business improvement, transformation and production optimisation. He has performed several senior level mine planning and mine engineering roles in Australia, South East Asia and Latin America, and managed mining studies for major mining houses.
