IG Partners
IG Partners is a Canadian-based gold producer with a core competency in extracting high-grade underground ore. BSC’s Productivity Science Unit was challenged to map out and discover novel strategic solutions to expand IG Partners’ largest mining operation while navigating the complex list of required cost-efficiencies.
THE CHALLENGE
Uncovering golden revenue-health insight
IG Partners approached BSC Global eager to map new, previously unconsidered strategic options for cost-effective expansion of their largest mining operation. The options would need to focus on mining a mix of both high-grade underground ore at a higher cost per tonne, as well as lower-grade open-pit ore at a lower cost per tonne.
CONTEXT
Considering key constraints
The main challenge BSC would need to solve for, was in facilitating a deeper understanding of key dynamics and inevitable constraints resulting from countless mining options and schedules available.
Besides shedding light on the nature and impact of such constraints, BSC Global’s approach would also need to clearly quantify certain implications of the inherent fixed vs. variable costs associated with each of the available mining approaches.
SOLUTION
Simulating and planning the outflow of value
The most relevant approach for accurately assessing different mining configurations would need to be both intuitively accessible to the IG team, but also robust enough to prescribe meaningful strategic decisions.
To this end, BSC custom-built a Qerent model for reliability simulating tonnes of ore throughflow in the value stream, while shedding light on logistical and cost implications of each throughput rate at each processing plant.
Once the model was perfected, BSC’s team successfully made detailed assessments factoring for 26 distinct mine configurations and schedules, quantifying how specific NPV values would develop over the course of a few weeks for each of the 26 configurations.
SUMMARY OUTCOMES
Selecting the best routes to the right revenue
With the custom Qerent model now active, IG Partner’s team have been able to expose apparently viable strategic options, as, in fact, value dilutive strategies to avoid.
The new Qerent model is also helping determine, not just the optimal individual mining options, but also the best sequence for implementing them.
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