Iron Ore Mine Collaborative Environment

Case Study – Western Australia

Stepchange Global has, in recent years, been involved in the application of Integrated Operations to the mining sector, in particular with the implementation of remote control and collaborative working. This Iron Ore Mine Collaborative Environment case study demonstrates how the principles and processes of a collaborative environment can and does make a real difference in the mining environment.

Background

A large international mining company was looking to adopt integrated operations in its iron ore operations in Western Australia, in particular to build an integrated remote control centre in Perth to co-locate four mines, rail and port controllers into a single environment. A number of key drivers were in place that led to the need for an IO approach:

Recognition that the four mines operated independently of each other and that there was a large opportunity for ‘cross mine’ learning
The opportunity to optimise the iron ore value chain by focusing on the handovers from mine to rail to port, and improve performance through co-location and focus on value chain processes
Scarcity of skilled resources willing to work in remote locations

Project Brief

Stepchange Global was brought in to carry out a review of the design and to provide assurance around the delivery of the overall project. We quickly identified significant flaws in the design and layout of the centre, and that it was unlikely to function as intended, with the potential to significantly impact the value returned on the entire project. We were therefore asked to carry out a ‘last minute’ redesign of the remote control centre, based around the core collaborative working principles that we have developed over the last decade, to ensure collaboration within the centre and back to the mine, rail and port locations.

Delivered by Stepchange Global

A review of the previous control centre design that had been carried out by local consultants with little IO experience
Introduction to collaborative working frameworks and concepts for the mine operations team to allow them to understand the need for the re-design
Integrated remote operations layout detailed design
Recommendations on collaborative working and change management to ensure the successful implementation of the remote control centre