Decision making is often a complex series of processes which may result in a “less than optimal” business outcome. Whilst there are tools to support and rationalise the process such as Multi Criteria Decision Analysis, the real value can be realised and optimised using a Trade Off Study approach. The outcome is logical and auditable to inform the best decision for the business.
Most of us in mining will agree that we have too many meetings, using up too much of our time, but it’s really hard to do much about it. I would spend around half of my time in a meeting including some days that are wall to wall meetings. I often reflect that if had an extra hour each day to get the real work done, then that would make a material difference to my effectiveness. Now, I think that a lot of our time in meetings is wasted and we often subconsciously find ways to fill the meeting agenda to use the whole time slot.
One of my favourite sayings is that engineers are like diamonds, formed under pressure and worth a lot. Unfortunately, lately we now seem to be worth a little less money than we are perhaps used to. None the less, the pressure and workload in mining stands above many other industries.
If you are being objective, you can’t really explain the price of gold by looking at its uses. Sure it looks good in jewellery but most of the gold doesn’t end up in jewellery, it sits in locked vaults gathering dust. There is now enough stored gold above ground to keep the jewellery market supplied for hundreds of years without needing to mine any more. So logically the price should crash and nobody should bother mining it any more. In fact people predict this all the time but it never happens.
Up to 60 resources sector senior industry leaders converged at the MEC Mining and Siecap jointly hosted Industry Breakfast Forum at the Brisbane Club on Friday, May 13.
And despite the superstitions surrounding the day’s date – it was far from all doom and gloom forecast for the industry as the mining downturn bottoms out.
Continue reading “Resources Sector Heavyweights Unite at Industry Breakfast Forum”
I’ll level with you, coal is pretty dirty stuff. I’m in the coal game (open pit / underground) but I’ll give you that one. It doesn’t do the atmosphere or the landscape much good. However had humans never used coal, then steel and power could not have been made, the industrial revolution would not have happened and we would still be living subsistence lives with short life expectancy.
I took out my wheely bins this morning and since we have been on holidays I couldn’t remember if it was recycling week or green bin week. I looked up the street and saw that most people had put out their recycling bin so I did the same. It turns out that nobody knew that it was green bin week. Everyone had copied the first person to put their bins out, who had in turn just made a guess, leading to a whole street full of smelly bins.
Working in the mining industry often requires you to live in a mining camp. While there are some perks associated with a mine camp – such as meals cooked for you, cleaning services and low cost of living – it can also be hard to get used to sometimes.
Depending on your roster, it’s not unusual for mining professionals to do four-week stints at a mining village. So, it’s best you prepare yourself ahead of time for mining camp realities in order to make the most of your experience.