Towards a fully automated mine

A significant challenge facing Australia’s mining industry today is the increased global demand for raw materials while available resources become harder to access due to the remote areas and harsh conditions of the weathers. To increase efficiency, Australian mining companies need to look at innovative ways to boost productivity.

In recent years, Australian mining companies are investing significant resources into the development and implementation of remote automation and machinery to increase productivity.

Rio Tinto Group was the first who started the automated mining operations initiatives, teaming up with Japanese giant Komatsu to start trialling driverless trucks on its Pilbara mine sites in 2008. Fortescue Metals Group, BHP Billiton and other mining companies in Western Australia are also working towards automation.

With the high labour wages, unrealistic costs, ongoing scrutiny of safety and high risks in the mines, many believe the shift towards automation was the only way for Australian miners to remain competitive.

Is Australia ready for a fully automated mine? What are the implications to the workforce? These topics will be discussed at the COO Leaders Resources Summit.

For more information please visit the COO Leaders Resources Summit website or to register your interest please click here.

Increasing the Number of Women in Mining & Resources

30 April 2014 – Traditionally the mining and resources industry is predominantly male. Women are still under represented and only make up 15 per cent of Australia’s mining workforce. While there have been many positive changes integrating women into the mining industry it still appears that they are underrepresented.

The COO Leaders Resources Summit 2014 will be held next week on the 7-8 May in the Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort & Spa, Gold Coast. At this leading event a panel discussion will be held with leading ladies within the mining industry discussing the various reasons why there is such an absence of women in the industry and what challenges the industry faces when it comes to correcting this shortfall. This panel will consist of the following ladies who have a strong presence within the industry:

• Moderator: Vanessa Garling, Head of Corporate Analysis Mining & Metals, Wood Mackenzie
• Patricia Manton-Hall, General Manager, UGL Limited,
• Sabina Shugg, Head of Mining, Momentum Partners and Founder & Chair, Women in Mining WA,
• Sally Rayner, Chief Advisor – Special Projects, Rio Tinto,
• Nikki Poteri-Collie, GM Strategy & Development, Thiess

The mining industry world-wide acknowledges the necessity of integrating more women into the industry and many organisations are working on ways to improve the workplace and make it more appealing to women – mainly via more flexible work practices. However, there are continuous reports on the main issues that prevent women from working in the mining industry, or the challenges that effectively, push them out of the industry. These are; the need for flexible work arrangements, the male orientated work culture, the lack of notice and flexibility when assigned work in remote locations and the lack of child care and parental leave.

The panel at the COO Leaders Resources Summit will address these issues and examine mechanisms that have increased the number of women in the industry along with ways that will help retain them. They will discuss how the mining industry has come a long way with many mining organisations increasing their female numbers through mentoring for women, family friendly rosters and affordable childcare.

A large issue preventing or curtailing the growth of women in the mining industry is the fact that mining does not have a very inviting work – life balance. The industry requires a lot of long term travel (many a time at the last minute’s notice), moving to rural areas and working long irregular hours. Moreover mining can be dangerous work. These tough work conditions mean that something more than a good salary is needed to entice women, and furthermore, keep them.

“The panel at the COO Leaders Mining Summit are ladies who know, understand and appreciate the difficulty women face when entering the mining industry. Sure they’ve been there themselves!”

“This panel understand first hand women’s apprehensions and they are constantly trying to drive an understanding within mining organisations, and the industry in general, so that they can help provide change and improvements to the industry. They will share their advice at the COO Leaders Resources Summit; guidance that they would give to young women entering the mining industry. They will also share their own challenges; what they had to overcome and deal with, when they began their career.” Larry Reaney, Director, COO Leaders Resources Summit

Part of the advice and stories that they will bring to the table is how to handle emotions within this often frustrating male dominated industry. In order to remain in the mining industry, many women need to alter their attitude and establish their own core values, along with keeping their emotions in check. Work can often get massively challenging on a mine site, but if a woman has a strong head on her shoulders and keeps her behaviour assertive, she will have an increased likelihood of staying in the industry and doing well.

There are plenty of aspects that have contributed to this low percentage of women in the industry. However, recognition must be made for the fact that this figure has in fact vastly increased over the past few years. Many organisations are doing their utmost to cater for women in the industry so we should continuously see more and more women entering the mining industry workforce. This panel aims to get the leaders in the mining industry understanding the importance of creating an improved workplace culture for women.

“This panel discussion at the COO Leaders Resources Summit will be really great. All of these women sharing their understanding and their own personal experiences of working in the mining industry will further communicate to the decision making leaders the importance of what needs to be done, in order to further entice and keep women within this industry.” Larry Reaney, Director, COO Leaders Resources Summit.

COO Leaders Mining Summit begins today!

Big welcome to everyone at the COO Leaders Mining Summit in the Rendezvous Grand Hotel in Perth today!
Registration has begun and we are off to a great start! Mark Dougan, MD ANZ, Frost & Sullivan is our proud Master of Ceremonies and he will formally welcome everyone at 10am.

We will try to keep you up to date with the different speaking sessions throughout the two days, on our blog,  LinkedIn group and Twitter, so you too can keep up to date on what the mining COOs have to say about current operations and the future of mining.

http://www.cooleaders.com.au/

What is our mining future?

COOs of Australia’s mine sites are due to congregate at the COO Leaders Mining Summit in the Rendezvous Grand Hotel, Perth next Wednesday for two days. It’s no secret that mining operations have been under a lot of pressure recently, so they hope to discuss their current challenges, opportunities, and developments, and come to better solutions going forward. They will share their experiences and learn key insights from their peers through various speaking sessions, think-tanks and panel discussions. Some unique mining service providers are also invited on site that can also help the COOs keep up to date and improve their future mining operations.

One such mining development is AHS (Automated Haulage System) or commonly known as the Mine of the Future. This will be discussed and analysed at length at the COO Leaders Mining Summit next week. We watched a very informative yet simple video done by Rio Tinto and recommend you do the same.

We are also very much looking forward to welcoming all of our delegates and sponsors to the COO Leaders Mining Summit in the Rendezvous Hotel Perth next Wednesday 9th October 2013.

BGC Contracting Awarded $420M Contract for Roy Hill Project

BGC Contracting have had more fantastic news as of late! We just wrote about how they were recently awarded a $300m mining contract for Atlas Iron Mt Webber Project. This is outlined here. On top of this, they have also been awarded a substantial deal worth $420M for Roy Hill project!!

BGC Contracting is a leading Australian mining and civil construction contractor who is a proud sponsor of Australia’s leading mining event; COO Leaders Mining Summit. The event is being held next week on the 9-10 October in the Rendezvous Grand Hotel Perth. Mining COOs will be delighted with the opportunity to meet with the attendees from BGC Contracting to discuss how they can help them with their mining operations.

Mining and Civil construction firm BGC Contracting has been awarded a substantial package of works by lead contractor Samsung C&T valued in the region of $420 million for the Roy Hill Project.

The Roy Hill mine is located approximately 277 kilometres due south of Port Hedland and is at the eastern end of the Chichester Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The mine, rail and port facilities will be designed to produce 55 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of Hematite direct ship ore.

BGC Contracting has been awarded the Roy Hill Iron Ore Project – Package 3, which includes the civil earthworks, concrete works and general infrastructure for the port component of the project located in Port Hedland.

This two-year construction project is set to begin next month and reach a peak workforce of 500 people, which will effectively push BGC Contracting’s overall workforce numbers towards the 3000 mark for the first time in their history.

Providing comment of the award was BGC Contracting CEO Greg Heylen. “We are pleased to be awarded our second major portion of work on this substantial resource sector project, whilst continuing our relationship with Samsung C&T and Roy Hill.” 

“Importantly, this contract award contributes to some $4B of work in hand for BGC Contracting which is significant in a time of declining opportunity for contractors in a subdued market”.

Established in 1992, BGC Contracting Pty Ltd is part of the privately owned BGC group of companies and operates across two distinct core business divisions being Mining and Civil Operations. Presently employing more than 2,400 people, BGC Contracting is a leading player in the provision of mining and construction services across the resources, government infrastructure, building and manufacturing industry sectors.  www.bgc.cc

Massive congratulations to all involved in this project at BGC Contracting. It is fantastic to hear of such positive news in the industry. We are very much looking forward to welcoming you on site at the COO Leaders Mining Summit and witness you generating so many more business relationships. 

BGC Contracting Awarded $300m Mining Contract for Atlas Iron Mt Webber Project

BGC Contracting is a leading Australian mining and civil construction contractor who is a proud sponsor of Australia’s leading mining event; COO Leaders Mining Summit. The event is being held next week on the 9-10 October in the Rendezvous Grand Hotel Perth. Mining COOs will be delighted with the opportunity to meet with the attendees from BGC Contracting to discuss how they can help them with their mining operations.

BGC Contracting have had some fantastic news as of late. One of which is that they were recently awarded a $300m mining contract for Atlas Iron Mt Webber Project. This is outlined below.

A formal contract between Atlas Iron and BGC Contracting has been signed for 3 contracts, these being the development work, mining, and crushing and screening operations at Atlas’ new mine, Mt Webber. The total contract sum for the 3 contracts is approximately $300m, with a peak workforce of 120 people.

Commenting on the award, BGC Contracting CEO Greg Heylen says “I am very pleased to announce this moment as it is an important contract for both BGC and Atlas going forward. Having worked well with Atlas for the past 4 years allowed us to secure a further 5 years of work with them at their Mt Webber operations.”

Mt Webber is a greenfields iron ore mine site located near Port Hedland, Western Australia. The initial mining production will be 3mtpa with the intention to increase to 6mtpa at some time during the 5 year contract.

The intention is to establish the site and build the ore handling plant ready to commence crushing and screening operations of iron ore in April 2014. To achieve this, establishment works were started on 1 September 2013 and BGC Contracting have already mobilised some major equipment to site.

Atlas and BGC Contracting have had a mutually beneficial long term relationship that is now further enhanced by this award. Notably, Atlas is a growing mining business with plans to open further mine sites in the Pilbara over the next few years.

Established in 1992, BGC Contracting Pty Ltd is part of the privately owned BGC group of companies and operates across two distinct core business divisions being Mining and Civil Operations. Presently employing more than 2,400 people, BGC Contracting is a leading player in the provision of mining and construction services across the resources, government infrastructure, building and manufacturing industry sectors.  www.bgc.cc

Congratulations to all involved in this project at BGC Contracting. We are very much looking forward to welcoming you on site at the COO Leaders Mining Summit and witness you generating more business relationships. 

Capital Management for mine sites – saving for today but investing right for tomorrow

26 September 2013 – The COO Leaders Mining Summit will be held in two weeks, on the 9-10 October 2013, in the Rendezvous Grand Hotel, Perth. Within the current and adept programme, a keynote panel discussion on capital management is organised with the view of advising COOs on how to save and invest correctly. Bryan Granzien of Tata Steel Resources, Dave McLean of Yancoal, Alan Fearon of Barrick Gold and Neil Meadows of IMX Resources Limited are all set to sit on the panel and share their experiences and how they advise to best strategise current mining investments for the future. Ricardo Monte Alto, Head of Americas – Metals and Mining Consulting, Wood MacKenzie, with his substantial familiarity within this area, will moderate this panel discussion.

This leading event has been designed for Chief Operating Officers of Australia’s mine sites. These COOs have had a tough time as of late – and that is putting it very mildly! They need a platform where they can go, to discuss their challenges and opportunities with their peers, and a forum in which they can learn from one another through keynote speaker sessions, panel discussions, think-tanks and through general networking with one another. Moreover, this event will host a select few leading service providers to the mining industry, so the COOs will get an ideal chance to speak to them and get to know in depth, what they can do to help their own mine site capital management.

In today’s current environment of depressed commodity prices and high costs (especially Australia), how organisations optimise their management and allocation of capital to preserve cash now whilst saving for the longer term, will dictate who are the successful players in the future. This is something that all mining operation executives must focus on so it will be a critical panel discussion for the attending COOs on site. The discussion will analyse the following areas:

• What actions are operations taking to achieve cost out (beyond the low hanging fruit)
• How are these decisions being taking with relation to a future outlook/ view on the market
• How do companies prioritise between competing projects (with consideration of whether they are accessing / using internal funding versus going external for funding)
• What mechanisms do companies have in place (or are putting in place) to ensure the best return on capital investments

“Capital management is pretty much at the top of most COOs agenda at the moment. Every COO wants success within this tough climate and in order to do this they must learn the best mechanisms to optimise where they put their money. How they manage this strategy is paramount and this apt panel discussion will best advise the other COOs that will be present.”

“Our analyst partner Wood MacKenzie will have Ricardo on site who will host this panel discussion. He will share his thorough understanding on capital management which will be of huge benefit to the attendees. They will also have an abundance of opportunities to speak with Ricardo throughout the two days at the COO Leaders Mining Summit and ask his advice. We are really looking forward to hearing his thought leadership.” Damien Fox-Read, Director, COO Leaders Mining Summit.

Mining Chief Operation Officers to gather next month

 18 September 2013 – Australia’s leading mining event, COO Leaders Mining Summit, is less than one month away. It will be held on the 9-10 October 2013, in the Rendezvous Grand Hotel, Perth. Chief Operation Officers of Australia’s mine sites have been invited to this exclusive event where they will gain access to an essential platform to interact and discuss their current mining operations.

Esteemed COOs will be sharing their expertise on site over the two days through keynote discussions, think tanks and panel discussions. They will also have a unique opportunity of meeting one on one with some innovative mining operation service companies. This will enable the COOs to learn about the new technologies out there and help them with their future purchasing requirements.

COOs will use this platform to discuss critical mining operation issues, such as the lower commodity prices, lower mining investment, consolidating their operations, developing well-structured business systems, improving levels of exploration, leadership and driving their message to other employees, risk management, optimising productivity, new technologies to optimise productivity and lower costs and revisiting their operation strategy on a whole.

The COOs will share their own stories and learn from one another on how they can best tackle the current crisis. There are opportunities out there but they just need to figure out what will work for their mine site.

“COOs are anxious. Their high profit margin days are over with commodity prices falling every day. It’s a really tough time out there for these COOs, hence this forum, the COO Leaders Mining Summit, where they can get together. They are all really looking forward to networking with one another and learning new ideas that they can adopt.”

“This event is set to be so informative for Australia’s mining Chief Operation Officers. We have delegates confirmed from all the large mining organisations, such as Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold, Atlas Iron, BHP Billiton, CSIRO, Fortescue, Leighton, MacMahon and Newmont, along with many more.”

“These mining professionals are in need of a forum such as this, where they can gain access to esteemed advice, along with getting the unique opportunity of meeting with innovative service providers which they don’t often get the time to do. I am really looking forward to welcoming everyone on site in October!” Damien Fox-Read, Director, COO Leaders Mining Summit.

Ausroad Stemming Trucks, another proud sponsor, have some expansion news!

Ausroad Stemming Trucks™ – expanding into Western Australia.

9^th Sept 2013 Ausroad stemming Trucks is a proud sponsor of the COO Leaders Mining Summit, which will be held on the 9-10 October, 2013. All of Australia’s mining COOs will be on site, at the Rendezvous Hotel, discussing their current challenges, opportunities and strategies. They will be delighted with the opportunity of meeting with Ausroad on site who will be able to help them with their future operations.

Ausroad Systems continues their strong expansion into the West Australian Open Cut Mining Market. The Ausroad Stemming Truck’s reliability, ease of use and low maintenance is proving attractive to remote site operators in Western Australia.

Ausroad Systems has recently won contracts to supply several major mining companies operating in Western Australia with new Stemming Trucks.  Recent leases have been extremely successful and  another Stemming Truck is about to begin a six-month trial.

The most attractive feature to users has been the simple design of the Stemming Truck, which means less moving parts and lower maintenance. This allows for a very high percentage of up-time and quick movement between blast holes.

The Company also continues to operate and sell units into the East Coast market and Internationally.

Congratulations Ausroad Stemming Trucks™ we are really looking forward to seeing you on site at the COO Leaders Mining Summit and seeing you generate even more business too!

 

Best government for the mining sector?

6 September 2013 – The general election is just around the corner and the mining industry seems to know exactly who they are voting for! Delegates congregated at AMEC’s event this week and spoke quite openly on their desire for a change of government. I think that it is safe to say that the mining population’s disappointment with Kevin Rudd’s implementation of the Resources tax back in 2010 has not slid away…Kevin revealed his plan to place Brisbane as the base for a $16 million mining industry innovation partnership if Labor wins on Saturday, however this has not seemed to sway mining professionals into giving him a vote.

The COO Leaders Mining Summit will be held next month on the 9-10 October 2013, in the Rendezvous Hotel, Perth. All of Australia’s mining COOs will gather together to discuss their mining strategies for the year ahead. A majorly topical discussion will no doubt be the government in place at the time and the policies that they are implementing / promising. Government’s policies majorly affect mining operations and many Australian’s blame Kevin Rudd’s mining tax in 2010 for the poor economic state Australia is presently in. It certainly cast a depressing spell over the mining industry and its operations and has not been dissolved since.

Gary Gray, the Federal Resources Minister has outlined that there will be no changes to the tax if Labor is re-elected on Saturday; “There is absolutely no intention at all to broaden the mining tax” he said. This is sure to cement the mining industry’s desire for a new government to be put in place.

The coalition on the other hand, has offered an election sweetener of tax breaks for struggling explorers. This has been rejected by the Federal Government, but if the coalition was elected, this incentive scheme will start on the 1 July 2014. Many are looking at this Exploration Development scheme as a step in the right direction; “Obviously there is a cap which I saw little disappointing and I haven’t seen all of the details, but it sounds to me like it’s a step in the right direction” said Ian Mulholland, MD of Rox Resources.

The AMEC event provided a clear insight to the votes of the Australian mining sector. They are looking for a little sparkle, a little light, that will give them more certainty from their next government.

The COO Leaders Mining Summit will provide these leading mining operation officers with guidance on the new policies that will be in place, those policies that are being promised and of course, those covert policies that could be threatening them for the future. Their operations depend on government policies and the chopping and changing of policies over the last few years, has not served to help the mining industry’s operations, nor confidence, at all.

“I am really looking forward to our leading mining event this year! All of Australia’s leading COOs have confirmed their attendance. They are really appreciative to be given an ideal platform where they will share their thoughts and strategies for their mining operations. They will also discuss the changes that will be made to their operations in accordance with new government in place. Saturday will be very interesting indeed…” Damien Fox-Read, Director, COO Leaders Mining Summit.