Staying on Top of Underground Mining: Where in the world do you look for new ideas?

Within the organization we get our employees involved to identify improvement opportunities. We also visit other operations mostly in Ontario and Quebec. However, some of the most efficient mines are in Sweden and we can learn lots from them. — Parviz Farsangi

The biggest resource for ideas is from the workforce. People are innovative and will “think out of the box” if encouraged to do so. The development and availability of new technology only adds a new tool to the box. Underground mining is essentially resistant to change. Applying the technology can be as great a challenge as developing it.

Mines are no longer stand-alone operations. There’s more sharing of information, management techniques, mining methods, and equipment selection between producers than ever before. Maybe there are fewer of us, so we move from operation to operation more. Maybe we group together for security, forcing us to talk. Maybe we’ve been forced to communicate better, manage better, plan better and mine better to stay in business. — Boyd Timler