I was put into a leadership role very early in my career. My first day of supervision was when my GM approached me and said, “We’re shut down. We don’t know for how long; we’re having issues with our cappel on top of our man hoist. Fix it. I need you to be the supervisor.”…

The mining industry has a widespread perception that Integrated Operations Centres (IOCs) are data centres with vast arrays of screens used by teams of data analysts providing support services to in-field operators.The centre gathers information from data sources across the operation, analyzes it, and sends back actionable intel to the real decision-makers. This passive approach…

Outliers Mining Solutions is committed to keeping sustainable environmental, social, and governance practices front of mind as we build our business and work to build value for our clients. With the goal of educating our team on the history and current issues regarding the Indigenous people of Canada and the role extraction industries play, we…

What are Operator Scorecards?Implementation of Operator Scorecards is a meaningful event in the life of any mine site. If you are a newer mine with an operations team still finding their groove, or an established operation with deep knowledge and site experience (and maybe some bad habits!), when faced with the change of implementing a…

“There is only one way to eat an Elephant”This is a great way to describe an insurmountable task. The answer is “one bite at a time.”This speaks to breaking down the problem or goal into smaller, individual tasks that will have a cumulative effect. In mining, saying we want to increase production is the proverbial…

At Outliers Mining Solutions, we always counsel our clients to make data-based decisions. The trap we frequently encounter is mine leadership fixating on certain KPIs without creating a broader understanding of operating philosophy and what drives production in the truck and shovel fleet. This singular focus can produce unintended behaviours and decisions that hurt efficiency…

The mining industry has many intrinsic characteristics. We often work in remote environments, following some form of mine-to-mill process, with plenty of technical knowledge among the operations and maintenance teams. When we identify an opportunity for improvement, we often hear something like: “It’s mining. We’ve done the same thing at another mine site; we can…

 What do these “terms” mean to you? Nirvana? Lofty goals that, for the most part, are unreachable? Or, with some minor tweaks and adjustments, we’re there? Does it mean having an asset performance management system that enables predictive analytics? Or a fully digital functioning maintenance department?Whatever your perspective and current level of performance, there are…