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By Charles G. Zink

Early anthracite "deep mining" methods, production, manpower. underground transportation, labor, safety and reserves are reviewed and compared to the present and to future requirements which must be met in order to economically win the fourteen million tons of untapped reserves and to keep the product competitive in the market place.

Jan 1, 1971

By R. V. Ramani

In this paper, the application of the concepts of reliability engineering to the evaluation of longwall system performance is illustrated with data from an operating longwall face. A number of cases are analyzed to highlight the impacts of longwall equipment, geological conditions and outby haulage on systems reliability and availability.

Jan 1, 1988

By Tony Szwilski

A correlation between the rank, ash content and coal seam discontinuities and coal strength/stiffness is discussed. Rebound hammers were used to evaluate the strength properties of two coal seams. The coefficient of variability of the rebound tests are compared with those of laboratory compressive strength tests by other investigators.

Jan 1, 1985

Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM) is considered carcinogenic after prolonged exposure. With increasing use of diesel-powered mining equipment in underground mines, miner?s exposure to DPM has been increasing. Most studies on the issue has been DPM control measures with few studies on diesel exhaust propagation patterns after leaving the tailpipes. This study uses computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to investigate the airflow pattern in an underground metal/nonmetal mine for a single heading. Several high DPM concentration areas are identified in the study and common practices for compliance are suggested. Airflow and DPM distribution are compared between blowing and exhausting face ventilation systems. Suggestions are also provided for the protection of miners in the face area.

Jan 1, 2009

By F. W. DeVries, O. B. Mathre

Addition of Kastone® peroxygen compound and formaldehyde to cyanide gold extraction process effluents, containing at least 5 mg soluble copper per liter, will oxidize acid-dissociable cyanide to levels less than 0.2 mg per liter, without appreciable oxidation of thiocyanate. Most of the copper precipitates and is removed by filtration of the treated solutions. The treatment can be completed in less than 2 hours when the excess of hydrogen peroxide over the cyanide is about 75-100 mg per liter. The excess hydrogen peroxide destroys residual formaldehyde and then is catalytically decomposed by the copper-containing solids that separate, so it will not interfere with subsequent operation. A pilot plant using this technology has been operated for more than four months at rates from 1-2 gpm. Clear, filtered effluent containing less than 0.2 mg acid-dissociable cyanide per liter has been produced.

Jan 1, 1981

By D. J. Gilbert

As a preventive action, the geotechnical department at the mine analyzed the original topography overlying a conveyor tunnel at the mine. Several dewatering drains were installed to intercept water collecting from an old lakebed. Subsequently, 20 steel arches were installed to provide additional support in an area of tunnel where original geological mapping indicated Type IV rock. This project was completed ontime with no loss to production. Construction schedules had to be developed to half hour precision, to accommodate the installation.

Jan 1, 2011

By Leon Maday, Robert Robinson, Judy Cochran, Don Davis

Over the past 20 years, several soft-ground tunnels have been successfully completed in the Seattle area. These tunnels were built using design-bid-build contracting methods, and have benefited from advancing technologies in exploration, design and construction methods. Owners have utilized various contractual means to share some of the risks that are inherent to tunneling projects. This has helped to foster a competitive bidding environment and to resolve issues related to unanticipated underground conditions in a fair manner. This paper presents case histories of tunnels constructed by King County and the Washington Dept. of Transportation that illustrate a common approach to design and construction issues. The common thread is successful project completion with minor cost changes under the design-bid-build contracting method. Lessons learned from these projects are being applied to the upcoming King County Brightwater Project tunnels, Sound Transit’s Light “Link” Rail tunnels and other tunnel projects.

Jan 1, 2005

By Marcus A. Wiley, Gregory Abramov

Borehole mining (BHM) is a remotely operated method of extracting rock material through boreholes by high-pressure water jets. Figure 1 illustrates a BHM tool and fluids circulation. The tool consists of at least two pipes, one for pumping down high-pressure water, the second for delivering slurry to the surface. This article reviews the BHM process. It discusses current and new applications for borehole mining and help the readers determine if BHM is applicable in their situations. Previous articles in ME about BHM explained either a particular project (ME, April 2001, pp. 33-36) or a newest patent in this area (ME, March 1991, pp. 313-318). However, neither one provided an overview on the modern BHM technology.

Jan 1, 2004

By A. Eccles

Phase designs are the foundation upon which all open pit mine sequence optimizations and budgets should be built. Unfortunately, at times, mine engineers skip the step of developing realistic pit phase designs - designs that include access ramps and mineable widths. Without mineable phase designs, their optimized schedules are based on theoretical pit shells or ?quick-and-dirty? plans with no ramps. The output from such optimizations is almost always overly optimistic. Without mineable designs, the production estimates are misleading, because they overestimate ore, and underestimate waste stripping requirements. Worse yet, when plans are not based on realistic phase designs, they can point to exactly the wrong decision in feasibility studies (i.e. ?go? when it should be ?no-go?). This paper discusses the importance and features of good pit phase design, and demonstrates the pitfalls of relying on optimized production sequences that are not based on properly designed pit phases.

Feb 27, 2013

By Louis W. Cope

The various types of placer deposits will be described as an introduction to the subject. The several methods and machines used for sample taking and processing will be discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of each will be covered. Included will be mistakes and pitfalls of placer sampling and sample reduction.

Jan 1, 1987

By P. Karimi, A. Akcil, A. Amini, H. Abdollahi

"In this study, cyanidation experiments were carried out on a massive sulfide ore sample, whose grades of the precious metals gold and silver were found to be 4.2 g/t and 311.9 g/t, respectively. Other elements in the ore were arsenic with average grade of 1,751.6 g/t; antimony, 619.7 g/t; zinc, 781.4 g/t; copper, 454.6 g/t; lead, 101.8 g/t; mercury, 324.3 g/t; and bismuth, 0.6 g/t. The first objective of test work focused on determining the best conditions for extracting gold from the ore, ground to less than 75 microns. Different influential parameters such as particle size fraction, cyanide concentration, pH and leaching time were investigated. The optimum parameters were found to be particle size fraction of less than 25 microns, cyanide concentration of 2,000 mg/L, pH of 11 and cyanidation time of 24 hours. In these optimum conditions, the highest gold and silver leaching efficiencies were 76.88 and 59.63 percent, respectively. In addition, roasting as pretreatment at a temperature of 700°C over a period of two hours was evaluated. Cyanidation testing of the roasted ore in the optimum conditions found increases in the gold and silver leaching efficiencies to 85.97 and 67.57 percent, respectively. Moreover, antimony extraction rose to 43.10 percent, from 23.73 percent without roasting.IntroductionGenerally, gold ores can be classified as “free milling” or “refractory,” depending on how they respond to cyanide leaching (La Brooy et al., 1994; Celep et al., 2009). While high gold recoveries (> 90 percent) from free-milling gold ores can be readily achieved, refractory gold ores are often characterized by low gold recoveries (50-80 percent) within a conventional cyanide leaching process (Rubisov et al., 1996; Adams, 2005; Celep et al., 2009). The presence of preg-robber components such as carbonaceous matter, sulfide minerals and aluminosilicate can further decrease gold and silver dissolution rates and recoveries. With the negative effect of the presence of preg-robbers, gold dissolution is considerably diminished in solutions with high cyanide concentration (Tan et al., 2005). In such refractory gold ores, gold particles may sometimes be occluded or included in the sulfide minerals, and pretreatment becomes necessary to break down the mineral structure to liberate gold for subsequent recovery. These ores are usually pretreated with an oxidizing process, after which gold and silver can be recovered by a standard cyanidation process. The main oxidizing processes available for refractory gold ores are roasting (LaBrooy et al., 1994; Angelidis and Kydros, 1995; Li et al., 2009; Karimi et al., 2010; Kyle et al., 2012), biological oxidation (Lawrence and Bruynesteyn, 1983; Komnitsas and Pooley, 1990, 1991; Deng and Liao, 2002; Ciftci and Akcil, 2010, 2013) and pressure oxidation (Mason, 1990; Murthy et al., 1992; Qingcui et al., 2009). In addition, ultra-fine grinding is being used in some plants for the liberation of gold and silver particles that are interlocked in the sulfide or silicate minerals (Celep et al., 2011)"

Jan 1, 2015

By Val E. Payne

Issues between resource utilization and resource preservation often develop in connection with coal mining. One such conflict exists in eastern Utah where PacifiCorp and Energy West Mining Company are working with State and Federal agencies to address the resource recovery/resource preservation dispute. The effects of underground longwall coal mining on golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) cliff nesting sites have been studied at the Cottonwood Mine since 1986. Subsidence, escarpment spalling, and the nesting activities of the local eagle population were monitored.

Jan 1, 1986

By Paul Nicholas, Raju Gottumukkala

"India’s economy is expanding with rapid urbanization. Improvement in infrastructure is a keystone to the Indian government’s economic plans, including expansion of transit systems. Most of these systems are designed with elevated and underground sections. New Delhi, a city of 23 million people, suffers from heavy traffic congestion and pollution. The transit (metro) system is seen to be of critical importance. Phase 3 of the Delhi transit system project is 140 kilometers (km), with 40 km of twin-bore tunnels requiring 35 tunnel boring machines (TBMs) for construction. Transit systems are also under design or construction in Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Mumbai. Most have twin-bore tunnels. At present, 55 TBMs are operating on underground metro construction, and future projects will increase this number. This paper highlights the unique challenges of construction of underground metro systems in highly congested urban environments, using Kolkata and Delhi systems as examples. INTRODUCTION The first transit system in India was constructed in Kolkata (India’s third-largest city by population.) This line is 28 kilometers (km) in length, has underground and at-grade sections, was built in phases, runs north/south, and has 24 stations. This project was sanctioned in 1972, started construction in 1984, and was completed in 1995. The tunnels were constructed primarily by cut and cover methods with some open-face, compressed air shield tunneling. In 2006, the urban transport policy recommended construction of transit rail systems in all urban cities with a population exceeding 2 million. Further, in 2014 the central government stated that it would assist in financing transit systems in all cities with a population of over 1 million. In 2015, the central government approved the development of transit systems in 50 additional cities across India with a budget of $75 billion (see Figure 1). Transit development is just part of a huge expansion in planned rapid transport systems, which include metro, bus, high-speed rail, and monorail systems. Metro systems will include elevated and underground sections with twin-bore tunnels and underground stations. In the Delhi/National Capital Region (NCR), now the largest city in India by population, Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) was formed in 1995 as a joint venture company between the central government and Delhi state. DMRC operates the Delhi metro system. (see the case studies described later in this paper). DMRC has developed an external function to carry out studies and to offer consultancy to other cities planning transits. Since its inception, DMRC has produced Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for every metro and monorail project in India. In 2012, DMRC became a partner in the management consultancy for Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit System, its first project overseas. DMRC became a model organization for other cities to follow. These cities have included Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Jaipur, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Nagpur. Other cities (e.g., Lucknow and Patna) are in the metro planning phase. Metro systems are under construction or partially operating in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Jaipur."

Jan 1, 2016

By J. Bilant, B. Carlson, N. Gow

High Pressure Grinding Roll (HPGR) technology has been evaluated to replace tertiary cone crushing at Coeur Rochester operations (Coeur Rochester, Inc.) as an opportunity to improve silver recovery. In 2016 and 2017, onsite and third-party pilot programs were initiated to evaluate the impact of metallurgical recovery and heap leach performance of crushed product generated by an HPGR. In 2018, Forte Dynamics evaluated the HPGR laboratory metallurgical data from Coeur Rochester and all third parties to develop field-scale leach curves based on new crushing scenarios. The laboratory recovery test work data was consolidated and scaled to field conditions to determine projected heap leach performance. Based on the metallurgical testing conducted, the replacement of current tertiary cone crushers with HPGR technology has the potential to increase Coeur Rochester’s silver recovery rate by 8%, from 61% to 69%, and shorten the overall timing of silver recoveries from 20 years to just over two years. INTRODUCTION The Rochester mine, and associated valley fill heap leach facilities is an open-pit silver and gold mine located in Pershing County, Nevada, approximately 26 miles northeast of the city of Lovelock. In 2017, Rochester produced approximately 4.7M troy oz silver (Ag) and 51k troy oz gold (Au). Ore mined at Rochester is either fed directly to the primary X-Pit crusher, crushed at an in-pit crusher system, or placed directly onto a heap leach pad as run-of-mine (ROM). Both crushing circuits are comprised of three stages of crushing to produce a nominal 3/8” ore. Primary crushing consists of jaw crushing while secondary and tertiary crushing are composed of varying cone crushers. Historical recovery rates of crushed Rochester ore average 61.4% Ag and 95.9% Au over a period of 20 years [1]. These rates were derived from third party verification of in-house metallurgical test results, crusher production and heap leach production results from 1986 through 2004 in a private report for Rochester produced by KD Engineering Co., Inc. Recovery rates are regularly verified by compositing daily samples of ore delivered to each leach pad from the X-pit crusher, in-pit crusher, and/or ROM. A proportionate split of each sample is used to generate monthly composites for metallurgical analysis utilizing column leaching and bottle roll leaching. These tests are run in a manner analogous with production conditions and deliver test results that provide expected heap leach performance. As the Rochester oxide deposit has been mineralogically and metallurgically consistent, the gold and silver recovery trends have also been consistent over the life of the project. In 2016 and 2017, onsite and third-party pilot programs were initiated to evaluate the impact of HPGR technology to metallurgical recovery and heap leach performance of crushed product in an open circuit configuration, as a potential replacement for the currently in place tertiary cone crushers. During these years, HPGR was evaluated in three phases of test work.

Jan 1, 2019

By J. D. Morgan

Introduction In 1987, the US economy continued to grow steadily, reaching an annual rate of $4.6 trillion in the last quarter. The value of domestically processed mineralbased materials rose slightly to $250 billion. The value of US metals rose sharply to more than $7 billion. Industrial minerals rose slightly to $18 billion recycled scrap was valued at $4 billion. Metal prices rose sharply toward year-end. A number of mining and metal companies experienced increased profitability, fostering more optimism about the future. Consumer demand strongly affects mining because the US economy is relatively saturated with long-lived products. Consumer, mortgage, and federal debt continue to rise. 244 million citizens already possess 170 million licensed motor vehicles and 100 million dwelling units. New car production fell 9% to 7.1 million units, but truck and bus production rose 9% to 3.8 million units. New housing starts fell 10% to 1.6 million units. Excess productive capacity exists not only in the US, but also in many other countries. Consequently, the US mineral industry is encountering stiff competition from others, as well as increasing competition from newer engi¬neered materials. Domestic production of plastics rose 9% to 25 Mt (27 million st) - on a volume basis, double all metals. Some 7% of petroleum goes to make petrochemicals including plastics. Imports of nonfuel mineral-based materials in 1987 were valued at $37 billion and exports at $24 billion. Imports supplied a significant proportion of total US consumption of several important mineral materials, including many classified as strategic and critical. In December, the Congress mandated that any major changes in stockpile goals be made only by law, and that the Department of Defense submit annually detailed stockpile supply/demand analyses. Concern about apartheid in South Africa continued, resulting in increasing interest about chromium, manganese, platinum-group metals, cobalt, vanadium, and gold. The National Critical Materials Council continued to monitor the US materials position. The Defense Production Act, authorizing priorities and allocations, supply expansions, voluntary agreements, and the National Defense Executive Reserve continues in effect through Sept. 30, 1989. Under the DPA, the US Bureau of Mines maintains the Emergency Minerals Administration. Further consultations were held with Canada to strengthen the North American defense industrial base. Coal production, 60% from open pits, rose 2% to 825 Mt (910 million st) valued at $21 billion. Nearly four-fifths was burned to generate 56% of US electricity. Exports included 42 Mt (51 million st) of metallurgical coal and 24 Mt (27 million st) of steam coal, with a total value of $3.3 billion. Domestic petroleum production fell 5% to 480 Mm' (3 billion bbl). Uranium mining, including recovery from phosphates, fell 4% to 5.9 kt (6500 st). Nonfuel minerals Major metals: Raw steel production - a major consumer of many minerals - rose 7% to 79 Mt (87 million st). Domestic iron ore production rose 11% to 44 Mt (48 million st), about 96% pelletized. Net imports, though, fell 8% to 11 Mt (10 million st). Raw steelmaking capacity fell 6% to 102 Mt (112 mil-

Jan 5, 1988

By M. S. Klima, V. Choudhry

Coal gasification solid residue (slag) contains unconverted carbon (char) which is considered an impurity for utilization applications of slag. Under this study, table concentration was used to process approximately 24,000 pounds of a nominal -3.4 mm gasifier slag (~85% ash) to separate high (~100%) ash slag from low (~50%) ash char. The results indicated a nearly ideal separation of the slag from the char for sizes coarser than about 1 mm. An overall slag yield of 71% was obtained. The slag was sufficiently clean to be used as feed material for the production of expanded lightweight aggregate. The recovered char had an ash content of about 47% and was a nominal -1 mm in size.

Feb 24, 1997

By M. Li, W. R. Reed, J. P. Rider, J. D. Potts

"The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has recently developed a series of validated models utilizing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to study the effects of air-blocking shelves on airflows and respirable dust distribution associated with medium-sized surface blasthole drill shrouds as part of a dry dust collector system. Using validated CFD models, three different air-blocking shelves were included in this study: a 15.2-cm (6-in.) wide shelf; a 7.6-cm (3-in.) wide shelf; and a 7.6-cm (3-in.) wide shelf at four different shelf heights. In addition, the dust-collector-to-bailing airflow ratios of 1.75:1, 1.5:1, 1.25:1, and 1:1 were evaluated for the 15.2-cm (6-in.) wide air-blocking shelf. This paper describes the methodology used to develop the CFD models. The effects of air-blocking shelves and dust-collector-to-bailing airflow ratios were identified by the study, and problem regions were revealed under certain conditions. The simulation results could be used for future development of dust control methods, particularly to address respirable silica dust, for a surface mine blasthole drill shroud.INTRODUCTION Surface blasthole drilling can generate considerable amounts of respirable silica dust. These high dust concentrations can be exacerbated by the high silica content as drilling cuts through silica-bearing materials such as sandstone and shale, causing overexposures for miners to respirable silica dust. These overexposures can lead to silicosis, an occupational lung disease that has no cure and is often fatal. A review of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) respirable silica dust sample database from 2010 to 2016 for metal/nonmetal mining shows the following overexposure rates for occupations related to blasthole drilling: • 14.1% of rotary air drillers were overexposed to respirable silica dust (22 out of 156 samples) • 5.8% of rotary drillers were overexposed to respirable silica dust (9 out of 155 samples) • 7.3% of drill helpers were overexposed to respirable silica dust (3 out of 41 samples) • 7.5% of blaster/shotfirer were overexposed to respirable silica dust (3 out of 40 samples) Of significant interest is an x-ray surveillance study recently completed under the NIOSH Enhanced Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program (ECWHSP). This program offered free chest radiographs to surface coal miners in 16 states. Pneumoconiosis was found among 2.0% of the 2,328 screened miners with at least 1 year of mining tenure. Twelve miners had radiographic changes consistent with progressive massive fibrosis, and 9 of these 12 miners reported no underground mining tenure. All but 1 of the 9 miners worked at occupations that were in the vicinity of blasthole drilling, either as a driller, blaster, or blast crew member [1]."

Jan 1, 2018

By M. Li, W. R. Reed, J. P. Rider, J. D. Potts

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has recently developed a series of validated models utilizing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to study the effects of air-blocking shelves on airflows and respirable dust distribution associated with medium-sized surface blasthole drill shrouds as part of a dry dust collector system. Using validated CFD models, three different air-blocking shelves were included in this study: a 15.2-cm (6-in.) wide shelf; a 7.6-cm (3-in.) wide shelf; and a 7.6-cm (3-in.) wide shelf at four different shelf heights. In addition, the dust-collector-to-bailing airflow ratios of 1.75:1, 1.5:1, 1.25:1, and 1:1 were evaluated for the 15.2-cm (6-in.) wide air-blocking shelf. This paper describes the methodology used to develop the CFD models. The effects of air-blocking shelves and dust-collector-to-bailing airflow ratios were identified by the study, and problem regions were revealed under certain conditions. The simulation results could be used for future development of dust control methods, particularly to address respirable silica dust, for a surface mine blasthole drill shroud. INTRODUCTION Surface blasthole drilling can generate considerable amounts of respirable silica dust. These high dust concentrations can be exacerbated by the high silica content as drilling cuts through silica-bearing materials such as sandstone and shale, causing overexposures for miners to respirable silica dust. These overexposures can lead to silicosis, an occupational lung disease that has no cure and is often fatal. A review of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) respirable silica dust sample database from 2010 to 2016 for metal/nonmetal mining shows the following overexposure rates for occupations related to blasthole drilling: • 14.1% of rotary air drillers were overexposed to respirable silica dust (22 out of 156 samples) • 5.8% of rotary drillers were overexposed to respirable silica dust (9 out of 155 samples) • 7.3% of drill helpers were overexposed to respirable silica dust (3 out of 41 samples) • 7.5% of blaster/shotfirer were overexposed to respirable silica dust (3 out of 40 samples) Of significant interest is an x-ray surveillance study recently completed under the NIOSH Enhanced Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program (ECWHSP). This program offered free chest radiographs to surface coal miners in 16 states. Pneumoconiosis was found among 2.0% of the 2,328 screened miners with at least 1 year of mining tenure. Twelve miners had radiographic changes consistent with progressive massive fibrosis, and 9 of these 12 miners reported no underground mining tenure. All but 1 of the 9 miners worked at occupations that were in the vicinity of blasthole drilling, either as a driller, blaster, or blast crew member [1].

Jan 1, 2019

By John J. Simmons

Federal and state regulations, in an effort to reduce acid rain, are becoming increasing more stringent regarding sulfur content of fossil fuels. Whereas coal from Illinois and Ohio contains between 1.5 and 37. sulfur, Wyoming has billions of tons of coal reserves containing less than O.5/% sulfur. However, much of Wyoming's coal is high in moisture, 25-30%, and low in energy, 8,200 to 8,900 BTU, vs. 10,500+ BTU for Illinois and Ohio Basin coals. Wyoming currently ships in excess of 130 million tons of coal to utilities as distant as Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. With freight charges ranging from $12.00-$20.00/ton, more than $1.5 billion a year is spent to transport water. A test shipment of more than 50,000 tons of Wyoming coal has recently been made from Mobil's Cabello Rojo Mine, south of Gillette, by Burlington Northern to the Robert's Bank British Columbia coal terminal for transloading and shipment to Taiwan Power Company. This coal assayed approximately 8,400 BTU/lb. and 277. moisture. Carbontec Energy Corporation feels the future availability of dried coal containing 11,000+ BTU could substantially enhance the potential export as well as the domestic market for Wyoming coal. Large and small utilities, along with industrial furnaces require tens of millions of tons of Wyoming, West Virginia, and other Eastern The federal government is encouraging the expenditure of hundreds of million of dollars by utilities to retrofit their boilers to allow them to burn higher sulfur coal. This program, if carried to completion, would cost many tens of billions of dollars, with the net result being high power costs sustained by the utilities. These costs will be passed on and paid for by the American consumer. A sensible alternative would be the burning of low sulfur coal by the utilities, without costly capital and operating expenditures. Carbontec Energy feels the successful operation of a Carbondry Coal Drying Plant in Wyoming will be the forerunner to other similar and larger operations in the State. CARBONTEC RESEARCH The activities of Carbontec's personnel to develop a viable process to dry sub-bituminous and lignite coal goes back some 14 years; in fact, for some of us it goes back to 1962 when we were involved in a program under which lignite coal from Truax Trayer's Velva mine was placed in low sulfur coal, which are burned alone or blended with high sulfur, Midwestern coal. Carbontec believes that a high BTU. reasonably priced, shippable coal fuel produced in Wyoming and delivered at costs competitive with Eastern low sulfur coal, could offer substantial benefits to Wyoming coal producers, utility customers, and to the State of Wyoming.

Jan 1, 1989

By Russell Barr

Operational excellence is generally known as a management system integrated across critical functions that is geared towards continually improving operational performance. Functional areas such as health, environment and safety, quality and human resources are the focus of many corporate-wide operational excellence programs. Operational excellence also focuses on improving areas such as customer orientation, employee empowerment as well as process, and systems optimization. It is widely viewed as critical to sustaining business performance improvement. Although it is difficult to find a universally accepted definition, or even common foundation in many respects, operational excellence remains a popular term in the business world. Many organizations have developed their own version of organization excellence, influenced by such individual factors, other similar institutions or even third-party service providers. A mining organization is no different from other organizations in that adopting and implementing effective operational excellence programs can dramatically improve business execution and performance across regional or global interests. This paper brings together various perspectives of operational excellence and reconciles them for a useful composite for the mining industry. While most agree that operational excellence should include normal functions in a manufacturing operation such as production, maintenance and engineering and processes such as quality, environmental and continuous improvement, many other factors for operational excellence seem to vary from perspective to perspective. Thus, programs that manufacturers engage in may seem the same, but may, in fact, be different in key areas. This may affect organizational performance in tangible ways. Management must buy into the company?s definition of operational excellence and be dedicated to achieving it. A review of many of the existing definitions of operational excellence, explicit or embedded as part of a program, seems to yield the following common factors: ? It should help organizations better execute their processes and services. ? It should be geared towards improving quality ? It requires that the various operations should be aligned with the overall enterprise strategy. ? It should be geared towards continuous improvement. A composite of operational excellence definitions suggest that it is: ? Geared towards helping the organization achieve sustained profitability; ? tied to strategic alignment and business objectives; ? tied to solid investment strategies; ? integrated as part of the culture, process, time plan and performance; ? a relevant performance measurement system; ? extended to include all aspects of the supply chain (including external suppliers); ? integrated with health, safety and environmental (HSE) aspects. And, while the pursuit of operational excellence intuitively suggests that businesses should improve, it is very difficult to achieve given the difficult challenges facing companies today. Mining businesses face numerous pressures to perform in a global marketplace such as demand, energy cost, variable cost and pricing fluctuations as well as infrastructure challenges to further confound the environment. Companies generally must look to the following:

Jan 1, 2009