Adopting a continuous operations, or conops, model in the South African mining sector could lead to a value-add of 8% to 15%, says newly established advisory firm Advisian.

“The idea behind conops in the mining industry is to get more out of production by enabling a mine to operate on days on which it currently does not operate,” says Advisian sub- Saharan Africa managing principal Jason Duffin.

He adds that, currently, the South African mining industry functions on an 11-day-fortnight mine cycle, where workers get three days off during a two-week rotation system. These days comprise the Sunday in the first week of the rotation and then the Saturday and Sunday in the following week of the rotation. On average, the system equates to the mine operating only 275 days in a calendar year.

Duffin states that, if a mine were to operate continuously for 365 days a year, this would equate to 90 additional days, or a 33% improvement, in the number of days the mine could potentially operate a year.

However, more maintenance would be required and, through extensive research, Advisian has found that short maintenance breaks need to be scheduled regularly to accommodate routine tasks like shaft inspections, as well as longer breaks to accommodate more comprehensive maintenance.

Owing to this, and depending on the current state of a mine and its operations, between 45 to 55 maintenance days would have to be provisioned for in a calendar year.

“For example, if one was to make a provision for 55 maintenance days in a year, in effect, the mine could potentially be operational for 310 days in a year, and this would equate to a 13% increase in the number of actual production days,” Duffin explains.

He points out that it is important to note that, although the mine will operate more days, current employees will not be required to work on additional days.

The change in the mine cycle will require additional employees to accommodate these additional production days. Therefore, the operation could be continuous without workers having to work longer hours or more days.

Duffin highlights that each mine cycle for conops is different, as each mine is heavily influenced by workforce composition, which comprise migrant and local workers. Therefore, there is a need to accommodate key public holidays – such as those over Easter and Christmas – and to allow for regular maintenance breaks and longer-term shutdown periods.

“In a South African context, mines have to first consider mine cycles and then the shift cycles, which can be implemented when conops [is] adopted to accommodate the travelling needs of migrant workers and local workers.

Duffin adds that when tabling the conops model, some aspects, such as whether the mine will continue to operate on three 8-hour shifts or change to operating on two 12-hour shifts should be taken into consideration.

“In theory, should this be done, a mine can achieve more face time, owing to less travelling time for migrant workers in a 24-hour period.” To illustrate, Duffin says, if a mine has a large number of migrant workers, the time workers get off to go home has to be considered when shift cycles are matched with the mine cycle.

He explains that the ratio of local workers to migrant workers differs for each mine in the South African context. Thus, Advisian has found that the needs of migrant and local workers significantly influence the ideal mine cycle for each mine, which will not only enable optimum production but also accommodate migrant issues and avoid strain being put on local workers.

Moreover, Duffin notes that developing a model that would be viable in a South African context means taking into consideration the importance that workforces attach to not having to work on Sundays. “As a result, planning a conops cycle requires one to consider such an element.”

Advisian has worked with several mining companies in South Africa to advise them on their specific needs and has suggested the most appropriate mine cycle and shift cycle needed for their conops. This has yielded positive outcomes, which Duffin believes should be adopted by more mines in the country.

“Conops systems address the issue of asset optimisation, which considers shift arrangements and the optimised operations to support them. If more mines in South Africa adopt this system, we can witness more productivity in the mining sector,” he concludes.