With 6 years of experience in open pit and underground mining across sectors such as gold, iron ore, bauxite, copper and coal, LMR has a proven methodology for the mining industry. With unprecedented results in helping clients meet demand and reduce unit cost, LMR is a market leader in Lean solutions.







Mining

Open Pit Gold Mine

Overview:
The company is mainly focused on gold projects but has a significant by-product in copper which holds a significant place in the clients commodity portfolio.

Scope of Project:
Reduce the operating cost by removing heavy mobile and ancillary equipment using Lean techniques.

Application:
This 11 month project was completed with all objectives being met. Three 794 Caterpillar tipper trucks were removed from the open pit operation and have been transferred to a sister mine in the group bringing substantial cost savings. Other ancillary equipment such as graders and feeders were reduced by 13%.

The project started with a Value stream Map of the operation in its entirety; from drill and blast, through to gold shipment. Whilst logistics planning played a major part in meeting project target, the stability tools helped achieve high fleet availability. TPM initiatives on truck maintenance, QCO on shift handovers, One Piece Flow application on drill and blast, all helped to secure a more efficient operation.

To underpin the results so far, the mine has run its first Lean Immersion course to educate senior managers in Lean.

Results:
The company has achieved the target of reducing the mobile fleet for the Open Pit operation by 20%. This, along with other savings has provided a 14:1 return on investment with LMR, and the desired reduction in unit cost.

Future Plans:
Increase the uptime in the mill by reducing plant shutdowns using Lean techniques by 30%.

 
Mining

Scope:
Our client is a market-leading Iron Ore producer. With operations across 4 continents and employing nearly 8000 staff and contractors, it faces an outstanding growth challenge that will see it more than double annual sales over the next 5 years.

Operating in a highly constrained labour market coupled with a lack of productivity and quality improvement in this highly capital-intensive industry has led to a significant challenge in meeting demand.

Application:
LMR engaged the top executives in a workshop to gain an awareness of Lean and the potential it can bring to driving capacity. With a strong alignment at the top, the following three weeks were used to develop Master Schedules across the operation to deliver capacity results based on identified bottleneck processes.
In parallel to the Master Scheduling, an aggressive deployment of Information Centres both vertical and horizontal across the organisation was developed to enhance communication, problem solving policy deployment and waste elimination. Throughout the value chain, from mine to port, LMR coaches supported the introduction of stability tools to release potential capacity an over-arching production flow programme to manage ore throughput.

Results:
3000 employees are engaged daily in Lean. It is a way of life in the mine. ROI on LMR resource 190:1.

Future Plans:

  • Increasing output
  • Improved product quality
  • Reducing material throughput time
  • Reduced man hours per tonne
  • Reducing Inventory and associated costs
 
Mining

Scope:
Our client operates in seven commodity markets: copper, coking coal, thermal coal, ferrochrome, nickel, vanadium and zinc. The Group's operations and projects span 18 countries with over 50,000 employees and contractors. LMR was asked to develop a process to enable our client to maximise the output on a mine with a remaining operating life of three years.

Application:
Considering the short term life of the mine, LMR developed a plan to introduce strategically placed Information Centres in the operation to coordinate activities between logistics, planning, the pit and the mill. With careful introduction of performance related KPIs, the client was able to see a jump in production output as communication improved across site. As Information Centres took hold, the client was able to introduce CCC strips to capture daily problems and ensure they were escalated to the appropriate level to be solved. This simple but visual process saw the engagement of the majority of staff in working on daily production issues. A further benefit was the emergence of a communication system that spanned FIFO rotas and staggered shifts. As the boards continue to mature, our client is able to use them as a vehicle for introducing new concepts, policies, and improvement activities.

Results:
Our client has seen a 22% increase in production output and is now evaluating further mine developments to increase the lifespan of the mine.
60% of the workforce is engaged in Lean Info Centres and problem solving. ROI on LMR resource 75:1.