Abstract
The global pandemic has created a challenge to measure and record progress at mining construction sites. In particular, remote mining sites have been hard hit. This is due to physical restrictions and constraints at the site to limit the number of workers or staff compounded by testing and vaccination requirements and administration, “social distancing” and PPE requirements, and minimization of physical interactions and face-to-face meetings.
The mining industry, in particular, is challenged by travel restrictions, fluctuating commodity prices, and supply/demand and delivery issues accentuated by the pandemic. In general, mining productivity has declined since 2005 until 2015 and reached a stable level till 2020, when another 20% productivity and 15% cost impact hit all the projects. Remote mining operations are facing extra logistics problems and most of the mature mines are facing lower grade ore extraction and mining being carried out in deeper and farther areas from the main site.
There is a serious need within the industry to rethink and re-invent to improve productivity and resulting performance. It is obvious from global responses to date that companies with high digital maturity and utilization have done significantly better than others who have relied on manual or semi-manual systems. An easy solution is to set up an “integrated” digital system that will not only capture the project data but also provide reliable and real-time data on the project’s performance.
Typically, contractors provide weekly updates, and it takes another week to consolidate and integrate the data. Case studies have shown that 75% of the time is spent on collecting the data and only 25% of the time is spent on review and analyses of the data.
Providing an online and real-time project progressing system will allow the project manager to capture timely data at the workface, they will have the ability to address problems shift by shift and before they arise. The progress and productivity data when coupled with analytical benchmarking, will allow projects to see daily progress and also compare themselves with their peers and competitors or to compare with other industries such as upstream oil and gas, steel, and oil refining.
Our presentation will discuss how leveraging current technology and industry best practices will lead to faster better-informed decision making and project performance improvement. Results of case studies will be presented and that show how to address data collection at multiple levels at the work site using hand-held portable devices to provide meaningful insights, productivity measurements, multiple shifts data, mitigating COVID-19 impacts, and reducing rework and change orders.
In summary, the presentation will present simple steps to implement such solutions and how owners can leverage easy-to-implement technology and best practices to provide faster decision-making and project performance improvement.