Mark Bowater

Background

About Mark Bowater

I have generated a lot of content on the subject of mine planning, the best place to find it all and choose what you'd like to read or watch is at https://markbowater.com/resources I help mines increase their profitability by improving their mine planning. My purpose is to leave mine planning in a better place than I found it, when I first started scheduling as a junior engineer back in 1990. We have incredibly powerful mine scheduling software at our fingertips, but it is pointless if we don't have a basic understanding of mine planning, the purpose for the numerous mine plans we carry out, the effect of issues such as variability and how mine planning and operations should integrate together in executing the plan. Mine scheduling is a broken model and has been for the 30 years I have been in the industry. Schedules are wrong (and often redundant) before they are even printed and discussed at a planning meeting. KPI’s are prevalent throughout the mining industry, but I am yet to see a mine site that has a thorough system of KPI’s for measuring the quality of their mine plans and determining the quality of the plan and how their mine planning is trending over time. We focus on compliance to plan and hold the execution team accountable for it, without measuring whether it was a good plan in the first place and whether it could even be followed! Quality mine plans are fundamental to a well-executed and profitable mine, but poor mine planning is costing the mining industry billions every year. Fixing this problem starts with educating our planners and executers in why we plan and how we execute them. For an example of what I mean, read the article below on variability. I spent 10 years in a range of engineering and management roles in open cut coal and iron ore mines before founding a mining engineering consultancy in I grew that company to 35 people before selling it in 2013. I then spent 3 years out of the industry before rejoining in 2016 and have been carrying out various consulting roles since. After many years working "in the industry", it is now time for me to work "on the industry" and that is by influencing fundamental change in mine scheduling across more than just the sites I directly consult to. Call:+61 412 647 630 Email: mark@focalmining.com.au Web: