
Unlocking your mine’s Full Potential
Without the price tag and in half the time

The Mining Transformation Dilemma
Across the industry, Tier 1 and Tier 2 consultants sell “full potential” programs that promise step-changes in productivity, EBITDA uplift, and long-term competitiveness. It often requires teams of analysts, six-month diagnostics, and launching of a portfolio of cross-functional initiatives. For boards and investors, the story is appealing: unlock 15–30% more value and catch up with world-class peers.
But for site leaders and general managers, the experience is often different. These engagements are expensive, disruptive, and slow. It floods the site with projects, dashboards, and transformation offices, yet the frontline still feels like they are firefighting. And too often, once the consultants leave, the improvements fade.
The Alternative: Flow Room by Stratflow
At Stratflow, we’ve taken a different approach. Instead of trying to optimize everything everywhere, we focus on the one point that truly governs your performance: the bottleneck.
Every mining operation has a systemic constraint — the longwall, the CHPP, the shaft hoist, or the port slot. That constraint sets the rhythm of the entire value chain. If it’s starved, blocked, or not running near nameplate capacity, your tonnes through suffer — no matter how “green” the rest of the KPIs look.
The Flow Room creates a short, cross-functional cadence where heads of department, superintendents and supervisors focus only on keeping that constraint stable and flowing at 90–95% of nameplate. Everything else has protective capacity. The result: less firefighting, more calm — and tonnes flowing consistently.
Why This Delivers Comparable Value
You might wonder: how can a low-cost, short-cycle intervention rival a multi-million-dollar transformation program? The answer lies in leverage and focus.
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Tier 1 and 2- Full Potential Program: Broad scope, dozens of initiatives, slow execution. Uplift looks big on paper but depends on organization-wide behavior change.
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Stratflow Flow Room: Narrow focus, fast execution, systemic leverage. By stabilizing flow at the bottleneck, you unlock hidden capacity across the entire mine.
Recently an Australian longwall mine that adopted the Flow Room increased output by 33% — with zero capex. That’s the kind of “full potential” outcome boards expect, but achieved faster, cheaper, and without overwhelming the site.
The Real Value for Executives
For general managers and SSEs under pressure, the Flow Room delivers something that’s rare in mining today: time, calm, and control. Instead of chasing fires across departments, leaders can focus on strategy, safety, and stakeholder management, confident that the production system is flowing as it should.
Conclusion
“Full potential” doesn’t have to mean a big-ticket consultancy and a year of disruption. With Stratflow, you can achieve the same order of results — 10 to 40% uplift in tonnes shipped — within 3-5 months, at a fraction of the cost, and in a way that sticks because it’s owned by your team.
👉 Learn more at www.stratflow.com.au
Appendix- Comparison of Flow Room vs Full Potential Programs
Strategic Intent
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Full Potential Programs (Tier 1 qnd 2 Consultancies): Mandate: “What is the maximum EBITDA uplift this mine can achieve if it runs like a world-class site?” Goal: big headline number (15–30%) to reassure boards and investors. Scope: everything from geology through port slots.
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Flow Room (Stratflow): Mandate: “How do we stabilize and maximize tonnes through the bottleneck with minimal cost and risk?” Goal: sustained throughput uplift (10-40%) without capex or restructuring. Scope: focus on the systemic constraint where tonnes flow is actually decided.
Methodology
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Full Potential Programs: Heavy upfront diagnostic (6–12 weeks), benchmarks, financial models, slide packs. “Transformation office” with multiple workstreams and dashboards. Consultants drive execution for 12–18 months.
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Flow Room: Rapid diagnostic (1–2 weeks) to identify true constraint and flow variability drivers. Implementation begins almost immediately. Mine’s leaders run the room; consultants facilitate and coach.
Execution Style
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Full Potential Programs: Top-down, consultant-driven. External team sets targets, pushes initiatives, monitors compliance. Dozens of initiatives spanning silos. Risk of fatigue: staff feel they’re “in a project” not running the mine.
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Flow Room: Bottom-up, site-driven. Superintendents and supervisors meet in short cadence to unblock bottleneck. Only one target matters: keep constraint running at 90–95% of nameplate. Creates calmness and control.
Risk & Cost
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Full Potential Programs: Very expensive (often tens of millions). High disruption risk across departments. Gains may vanish with leadership turnover.
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Flow Room: Low cost, low risk. No capex, minimal disruption. Delivers results within weeks. Designed to be self-sustaining.
Results Profile
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Full Potential Programs: Large impact on paper, but realization rates vary (50–70%). Gains may fade post-consultants. Creates short-term investor confidence.
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Flow Room: Proven step-changes in real mines (e.g., +33% uplift at Australian longwall coal mine). Results sustained because site owns the process. Builds capability and resilience.
Executive Takeaway
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Full Potential Programs: Big, ambitious, high-cost programs — suited to investor storytelling but often fragile.
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Flow Room: Focused, systemic intervention — delivers equal or better uplift faster, cheaper, and with less risk while giving managers back time, calm, and control.