Mining
Delivering process improvement for global mining organizations
Needs Based Approach
From the oil sands in the Canadian Arctic to Australia’s diamond mines and from Africa’s copper mines to the gold mines of South America, we help some of the world’s largest mining companies create hard dollar, sustainable benefits by delivering process improvement and change management programs. There are no pre-developed solutions. Instead, we analyze your unique situation and develop a program custom tailored to address the challenges and barriers standing in the way of achieving your goals.
We believe it our job is to enhance your people’s capability to manage your business, whether they are engineers or technicians, accountants or clerks, supervisors or operators.
Industry Experience
Highland has experience working at every level of your operations – from organizational design through mine operations, and minerals and metals processing through handling and transport of finished products. We have worked in mining operations on almost every continent, including our recent work at:
- Oil sands mining operations in Northern Canada
- Gold mine in Brazil
- Diamond mines in Australia and Northern Canada
- Copper mines in Africa, Australia and North America
- Zinc mine in Ireland
- Borax mine in North America
- Industrial minerals mines in Canada, France and South Africa
- Roller bearing manufacturing in Poland
- Talc mine in India
- Aluminum extrusion & fabrication in North America
Our experience spans the entire mining production cycle and back-office administration, areas such as:
- Throughput increase – more effective planning, process enhancements, asset availability and utilization, cycle time reduction, de-bottlenecking, improved operator practices, effective supervisory skills, improved maintenance practices and management systems, road and tire management, logistics, improved predictability and reliability
- Productivity improvements – producing the same output with less input OR producing more output with the same inputs; planning, reducing downtime, C1 cost reduction (cost per ton), supply chain optimization, skills training, management systems
- Safety – behavioral changes for significant reductions in recordable and lost time incidents; our work practices and methodologies are designed to reinforce or improve existing safety standards
- Cost reduction – all areas including labor, spares, materials, fuel, energy, administration, procurement
- Contractors– spend reduction through more effective planning, contract management practices and process efficiencies
- Cash generation – operationalizing working capital, accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventories, vendor contract management
- CapEx management – both CapEx reduction and program management to ensure budget, on time results, at a minimum; cycle time reduction and cost reduction/management
- Rail and port throughput and cost reduction
We believe that organizational development, behavioral change and coaching are key to delivering improvements and to ensuring sustainability of benefits. Our goal is for your people to acquire the skills and continuous improvement methodologies we use. This coaching and training will ensure that your business sustains the operational improvements we jointly develop and implement in your business.
Qualified Senior Consultants
Our consultants have deep industry expertise. At Highland, we only hire consultants with at least 15 years of experience who excel in the cultures, countries, language and operating environments of our clients. They have delivered exceptional results in almost any mining environment you can imagine, from the Canadian Arctic to Australia’s Kimberly, from the Atacama Desert to the Indonesian jungle. Our senior teams have consistently delivered results at or above the level of our clients’ expectations over many years. Most importantly, many of our current mining engagements are repeat business, which speaks to our quality and sustainable results.
Measurable Financial Results
- Maintenance budget attainment improvement of 26%
- Contractor productivity improvement of 15%
- Overtime decreased by 24%
- Time on Tools improvement of 38%
- Truck productivity improvement of 76%
- Down time reduced by 20%
- Days Payable Outstanding reduced by 60%
How can we help you? To learn more about our experience and results, review our case studies or contact us for more information.
