Smart mining and metals operations
Harmonise across the IT/OT nexus to unlock sustainable value
From mitigating the effects of ore body uncertainty on production to balancing safety with profitability and sustainability, running mining and metals operations successfully can be a complex and nuanced business.
For the organisations tasked with meeting the world’s increasing demand for minerals and metals while addressing fast-moving investor, regulatory and public expectations, there are complicated and, sometimes, difficult choices to be made. Optimising the value of mature assets while driving future production through strategic operational improvements as well as greenfield investments is an ongoing priority for these organisations.
These forces have given rise to five key imperatives for operators to contemplate:
- Designing and developing mining and metals operations to be ‘smart’ from day one
- Driving safe and reliable operations at the lowest cost per ton
- Delivering operational decarbonisation and sustainability commitments
- Enabling enterprise-level decision-making across the value chain
- Attracting and retaining skilled talent by rethinking the nature of current and future work
Learn how Deloitte is helping Mining & Metals companies
The value of smart operations tools in strategic mine planning
To make strategic decisions for complex and integrated mining and metals assets, such as iron-ore operations, companies should test the impact of different scenarios and changes to their supply chains and evaluate the effects on systems throughput. For instance, key use cases for simulation and optimisation software tools might include:
- Developing asset maintenance plans: Generate rail and fixed plant maintenance plans based on high-level requirements and planning rules.
- Designing future mines: Evaluate the impact of new mines on a portfolio and investigate strategies to ramp up production.
- Operational improvement initiatives: Evaluate the impact of planned initiatives on expected supply chain throughput.
- Pathway to the energy transition: Evaluate the impact of using battery-powered vehicles across the operation.
