Sharing thoughts on Analytics

Andries Loubser, Director for Enterprise Solutions at MineRP shares his view on Mining Optimization and Analytics in the light of the 2015 SAIMM conference.

I recently had the opportunity to speak at the SAIMM Optimisation Conference on opportunities for improvement in mining operations using MineRP and IBM technology. The conference attracted representatives from top companies within the mining industry from precious metals to base metals, consultants, technology providers as well as owner operators. I believe the South African mining industry has great potential to benefit from optimisation principles and tools to bring about stability, improvement and associated confidence to the market. Mines seek confidence in the choices they make in long and medium term planning. There are better decision processes than to guess at capital scenarios, such as prioritised and scientifically calculated options to lead them towards the correct choice of execution plan and investment to increase the value of their mining projects.

Organisations function at different levels of maturity, and as such would not all benefit from the same approach to optimization. Approaches to optimization and analytics can be based on three distinct levels of maturity: