Every day in a mine begins with precision. Targets are set, crews are briefed and plans are mapped down to the minute: how many tonnes to move, which sections to drill or blast, which machines to deploy. Yet by the end of the day, the numbers don’t always match the plan. A few late starts, a slow equipment change-out, a meeting that drags on…These small losses seem insignificant in isolation but add up over time, and could end up costing millions of rands. By Arjen de Bruin, Group CEO at OIM Consulting. WHY OUR MINES LOSE MILLIONS BETWEEN PLAN AND PRODUCTION
A t OIM, we’ve spent more than a decade studying operational performance across mines in sub-Saharan Africa, both open pit and underground. By analysing more than 10 years of production data, we’ve traced the patterns that quietly drain output. The finding is clear: Africa’s mines are not held back by geology or technology, but by how time is managed, prioritised and used. In that space between intention and execution, as
much as 10% of planned output can disappear in a single shift. The real losses happen between plan and pit What’s striking is that most of these losses are human, not mechanical. Supervisors and frontline leaders often spend more than half their day in meetings or dealing with unexpected problems, rather than leading their teams in the field. Time that should be spent planning,
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