Strategic planning and mine modernization case study

AMC advises on becoming the lowest-cost zinc producer in the world.

"AMC has helped us identify the real production potential of all mines and also to do the benchmarking of most of our operations. This has helped us to develop long-term plans for all our operations and to see the opportunities to enhance the operation performance compared to other global peers to get the best value out of each operation."

LS Shekhawat, COO-Mines-HZL, Vedanta Resources Plc.

Project overview

AMC was first employed to optimize the zinc operation in 2002, shortly after the company was privatized.

The challenge

An initial site visit immediately identified:

The resource was being exploited well below its potential: approximately 1 Mtpa pa of ore was being processed with less than 10 m vertically of the orebody being mined each year.
The fleet was too old and small to achieve the mining rates required to realize the resource’s potential.
The operation had significant geotechnical issues.

The result

The work completed has increased the ore treatment from approximately 1 Mt to in excess of 5 Mt of ore processed per year — resulting in it becoming the lowest cost zinc producer in the world.

The relationship AMC developed has led to the parent company engaging AMC for all of their operations around the world

Our approach

Over the next six years, AMC worked with the management group in areas including:

Strategic planning
AMC’s team developed the strategic plans, from concept to feasibility, which have underpinned the development of the underground mine.

Site plan implementation
AMC worked with the site technical teams to develop planning systems linking strategic plans to the daily activity. This work included the planning calendar, meeting formats, and technical infrastructure — all of which were still the basis for open pit planning six years after the project was completed.

Modernizing the mining operation
An initial benchmarking study illustrated the potential of modernizing the fleet. AMC then worked to identify the right fleet and implement appropriate work practices to realize its potential.

Significant geotechnical issue
The AMC team worked with the site team to identify the correct slope regimes. It also focused on increasing onsite skill levels and introducing world-class geotechnical systems and practices.