Proven results in mining operations improvement

Telfer’s underground mining contractor was underperforming. It turned out that the technicalservices team could not produce quality plans and schedules of the requisite quality in time.This created a bottleneck that flowed through to execution across the entire operation.

Compounding this, in the process plant and open pit, meetings were ineffective, actionownership was unclear, and there was no consistent framework for short-interval control orcross-departmental collaboration. The operation needed a ground-up overhaul of how itplanned, communicated, and held itself accountable.

FPC deployed a multi-disciplinary team across three concurrent workstreams. In underground operations, the team overhauled planning and scheduling processes,  restructured daily reviews, and introduced short-interval control — driving a 24% increase inaverage hoisted tonnes per day within 12 months of project start.

In the process plant, FPC redesigned daily meetings, introduced clear task allocation systems, and consolidated fragmented action sources into a single management framework. Across the open pit, FPC implemented integrated short-term planning and scheduling over two iterations spanning 24 months, improving cross-organisational collaboration and role clarity at every level.

OZ Minerals’ underground copper operations at Prominent Hill and Carrapateena lacked a structured Management Operating System. Planning and execution were disconnected, meetings were ineffective, and there was no real-time visibility over operational performance.

Leadership capability was inconsistent across both sites, and the organisation had no systematic approach to people development or team effectiveness. With two sites to transform and production targets under pressure, a coordinated, long-term approach was essential.

FPC implemented a comprehensive MOS from scratch across both operations. This included restructuring daily planning and review meetings, introducing a purpose-built Stope Tracker for real-time underground work visibility, and building advanced Power BI dashboards to give management clear, actionable insight into operational performance.

In parallel, FPC delivered a full leadership development programme — Harrison Assessments, 360° feedback, individual coaching, and Effective Teams facilitation — building lasting capability across both site management teams over four years.

Resolute Mining's Somisy operation in Mali had no formal Management Operating System across any of its four disciplines. There were no consistent planning processes, structured meeting frameworks, or performance management systems in place.

The operation faced additional complexity: a remote West African location with significant cultural and logistical challenges. Any system implemented would need to be embedded deeply enough to be sustained by local management long after the project concluded — making capability transfer as important as the implementation itself.

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FPC deployed a small consultant team on-site in Mali for 24 months, building an MOS from scratch across gold mining, processing, maintenance, and supply. The team redesigned planning and execution processes at every level of the organisation, introduced structured meeting frameworks from the front line to senior leadership, and delivered an extensive management and leadership development programme.

This included Harrison Assessments, 360° evaluations, individual coaching, and Effective Teams facilitation — intentionally designed to build local management capability and embed the system for the long term.

Orvana's OroValle operation faced significant challenges across two critical disciplines at the same time. Underground planning and scheduling lacked real-time visibility, and daily execution was disconnected from the plan — creating reactive, uncoordinated shift management.

In mobile maintenance, there was no formal prioritisation system, skills matrices were absent, essential meetings were not taking place, and the integration between maintenance and stores was ineffective. Left unaddressed, these issues were compounding each other: poor maintenance availability was limiting what underground could plan, and poor planning was making maintenance prioritisation harder.

FPC deployed specialist consultants across both workstreams concurrently, treating underground and maintenance as an interconnected system rather than isolated problems. In underground operations, the team overhauled planning and daily review meetings and introduced a Kanban board system to plan, track, and manage work in real time — replacing a reactive, disconnected approach with structured visual management.

In mobile maintenance, FPC introduced a formal prioritisation process, built skills matrices, established the missing meeting cadence, and restructured the stores integration process from the ground up. Both workstreams were delivered in parallel over nine months.