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Case Studies

Stabilization of Mill Process Production for Enhanced Ore Recovery

A gold mining client was looking to improve coordination in its drill and blast operations and increase the production of drilled holes by shift. YCP Unison worked together with the client to implement short interval controls using its proprietary SIC D&B tool

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Key Results

Weekly gold produced [Oz] average was increased from 585 Oz to 899Oz.

Weekly grade (g/ton) average was increased from 0.78 to 1.18 g/ton.

Weekly global recovery % average was increased from 90.84% to 92.1%.

Specific Actions Taken

The following steps were taken by the YCP Unison team by working closely with the client on three areas:

Loss Production

YCP Unison helped identify delays and downtime that were resulting in lost production. This allowed them to prioritize changes in supervisor behavior for elevated plant efficiency.

Supervisory Routine

An updated supervisory routine was implemented to incentivize positive changes in supervisor behaviour. This was to ensure operating activities were performed safely and on time to achieve production targets above the base line.

On-site Performance Monitoring

Gemba Walk routines were developed and implemented for supervisors to inspect the plant area regularly to identify any issues for corrective actions to be taken swiftly.

Our Approach

A diagnostic of the client’s existing mill operation process was performed to identify strengths and weaknesses. A baseline was defined to set a measuring parameter of the key indicators including utilization, grade (g/ton), global recovery, gold produced [Oz] at the mill. Historical data was taken from a five-month period.

To monitor how these indicators were impacted over the course of the project, development and implementation of an updated Management Operating System (MOS) tools was carried out. Additionally, existing tools were strengthened to processes were brought up to a reliable performance level, achieving goals above the baseline.