I am often engaged by mining clients to recommend ways to improve profitability.

While there are countless things that you can do, here are my top 5:

1) Throw away less ore and process less dilution. Get selective when mining around the waste/ore contact. Using smaller equipment to be more selective will pay back many times over.

2) Appoint an external productivity coach to sit at the face to improve the loader and truck interface.

3) Mine the best part of the resource first. While it evens out over time, the time value of money will reward you for bringing value forward.

4) Optimise dumping and haulage. The savings are commonly 15% or more in haulage cost

5) Conduct regular process plant audits. The plant is a complicated bit of machinery. Regular audits will ensure that any preventable loss of recovery is quickly identified and fixed.