SOUTHERN AFRICAN OPEN CUT DIAMOND MINE
Unleashed the mines untapped resource- it's people
Processed Kimberlite increased by 38%
The Challenge
A primary challenge was the deployment of a local workforce, inexperienced in mining operations, which was essential for community integration. In 2014 this mine was reaching its end of life. In 2013, 2.1 m tons of Kimberlite was processed, and the operation ran at a loss at that time. The Kimberlite processing plant was found to be the operations bottleneck. It was also three months behind in paying its suppliers.
LOCATION
Southern Africa
MINE TYPE
Open Cut Diamond Mine
PROCESSED KIMBERLITE INCREASE
+38%
The Stratflow Productivity Platform
Intervention Strategy:
In July 2014 we started with the Production Flow intervention. The managers and workers from all functional departments received two weeks of training around the principles of operating the Operations Room. Intervention support needed to be paused for three months (partly due to the unstable political climat)e, in spite of this the employees were able to achieve increased production. To us this was the most surprisng part of the intervention, seeing what employees are capable of when the right environment is created. This is detailed in the 3 minute video below.​
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Compelling outcomes:
Kimberlite processed in 2014 increased from 2.1 million tons in 2013 to 2.9 million tons, a 38% increase. The payment backlog had been wiped out; the mine was profitable once more. As a result the owners extended the life of the mine to 2037.
Perhaps of greater significance is the tremendous increase in employee engaged and freeing up of the collective genious on site.
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