Mining

Challenges

The mining sector is experiencing one of the most dramatic downturns in decades. Prices have been sinking for years, and industry analysts are predicting the recovery, when it comes, will be more like a crawl than a sprint.

Faced with dwindling demand, companies are doing what they know best: reducing costs and eliminating anything they don't believe adds value to the product…and the bottom line. It’s a strategy with serious limitations. Once the low-hanging fruit is gone, so are the options.

Counterintuitively, many fight back by increasing supply. They flood the marketplace with ever-greater amounts of ever-cheaper product, hoping to starve the competition out of business. A lose-lose proposition, when so many top producers are recording deficits for so many of the minerals they sell. And if the assets they now operate aren't profitable, it's certain no new ones will be built.

The pressure has never been greater to deliver high-quality products, control costs, and do it safely. More than ever, mining companies need to implement sustainable business plans, become more competitive, and get the most value from their assets.

They need to drive change in the industry. They need to think differently—more innovatively—to transform the way their operations are run.

That's where we can help.

Capabilities

Mine design & planning

With worldwide expertise in the design, specification, selection, and optimization of different mining methods, we make the most of your operation. Base metals, industrial minerals, precious metals, rare earths, and other mined commodities—we cover surface and underground operations, including the transition process.

Mine ventilation

Our clients count on us for complete service packages to design and install state-of-the-art ventilation, heating, and cooling systems. We work the entire scope, from conceptual design to full-detailed engineering and implementation.

Shafts & hoisting systems

We know mine-shaft and hoist design. Hoist-duty cycles are calculated and specifications drawn up to identify and obtain the exact equipment your mining operation needs. Shaft and station steelwork are custom-designed, conforming to codes developed specifically for high-speed and high-capacity hoisting systems.

Headgears are laid out to match your mine's shaft and hoist configurations, always conforming to internationally accepted codes and standards. They can be steel or concrete, situated on the surface or underground. We can help you fully automate rock handling in the shafts, maximizing output while reducing the need for human interface.

Dynamic simulation

Our mining experts can produce dynamic life-of-mine simulations for complete mine systems and processes. From rock-breaking at the face, to loading, stockpiling, and transporting rock for various mining methods; from logistics and transporting personnel and materials for deep ore bodies to large open-pit operations; we have it covered.

Backfill

Selecting the best backfill systems, methods of distribution, and materials-handling processes are major considerations in underground mine design, planning, and production. All over the world, we've helped operations like yours make the right choices.

We've got the expertise to establish backfill system characteristics. We can determine the highest quality, most cost-effective mixture-and-delivery method to support your mine's production requirements.

Blogs

On the path to zero emissions: how the mining industry is working towards GHG-free surface mining

Michael Bobotis

In 2018, the International Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM) launched the Innovation for Cleaner Safer Vehicles (ICSV) initiative, which brings together twenty-seven of the world’s leading mining companies and nineteen original equipment manufacturers to accelerate innovation in the development of a new generation of mining vehicles and to improve existing vehicles.

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