Mining, Metals & Cement

Coal Mining
A coal mine experienced serious delays in opening its new face because of geological problems. Inflows of water had halted progress. The mine was losing $700,000 a day and was threatened with closure.  The colliery manager introduced his team to Hagen software and methodologies. They used the approach to establish the true potential of production and to overcome the significant problems that stopped them from achieving this rate. In five weeks driveage rates were increased by 55%. The new face was opened and 800 jobs were saved.

Alumina Refining
A major refinery of one of the world's largest producers of aluminum had spent several years improving its operating performance to reduce costs. The site management team was looking for further cost improvement areas. About $50 million per annum was spent on external, or contracted, services. This amount covered the majority of maintenance delivery for the site as well as other services. The management team believed there was opportunity to improve performance but was unable to identify a way forward.

Over a 4-month period, a team of managers, engineers, and operators applied Hagen’s software, services, and methodologies to identify the true potential of the site’s maintenance processes and to understand the reasons why maintenance delivery was not reaching that potential.  The final result was a sustained 25% reduction in the cost of external services, worth $12 million per annum. Subsequently, each of the plant’s sister sites applied the Hagen approach to save $6 million and $12 million respectively.

Nickel Mining
The largest production facility in the nickel division of a leading global mining company needed to reduce costs to keep the cost of production below the LME nickel price. The management team had spent several years cutting costs and believed that there was no cost reduction opportunity.  Working with Hagen tools and support services over a 6-month period, a site team of managers, engineers, and operators increased the output of the mine by 20%, while reducing the fleet of mining equipment by 10%, saving $8 million per annum. Application of the Hagen methodology across the division’s four other sites resulted in savings in excess of $40 million in the first 12 months.