MINEXCHANGE 2024 Preprints Page 1 (438 of 800)

1
24-054
Innovative Approaches to Building Technical Capability for a
Modern Mining and Metals Organisation
Brendan Howard
Rio Tinto, Brisbane, Australia
ABSTRACT
Rio Tinto has a large globally distributed technical work-
force and needs to ensure these employees have the requi-
site skills to not only manage technical risk and enable safe
efficient production, but also ensure they are keeping pace
with a fast-changing technological landscape. Traditional
approaches to learning struggle for scale and an inability to
respond to the extreme diversity of capability development
needs. In response, Rio Tinto has successfully introduced
innovative approaches to learning and employee engage-
ment via leveraging the power of globally distributed net-
works for peer-to-peer knowledge transfer and providing
mechanisms to recognise, reward and retain the individual
technical contributors.
INTRODUCTION
Like other mining and metals organisations, Rio Tinto
is dependent on high quality technical expertise to find,
study, build, operate and close the mines and processing
facilities that provide the metals and minerals that under-
pin our modern society. Arguably, the calibre of the tech-
nical workforce together with the quality of the mineral
resources represent the core sources of competitive advan-
tage for any minerals company. As one of the largest miner-
als producers in the world, Rio Tinto employs a large global
technical workforce, currently around 10,000 professionals,
which comprises many engineers and scientists and makes
up approximately 20% of the total Rio Tinto workforce.
The following table and figures present some of the
basic demographics of the technical professional workforce.
In addition to the traditional mining and metals pro-
fessions of geologist, mining engineer and metallurgist,
Rio Tinto today employs a vast array of scientific and
Table 1. Distribution of technical professionals by category
Category
%of Total
Technical
Workforce
Selected Professional
Backgrounds
Asset
Management
37 Assorted engineers especially
Mechanical
Geoscience 6 Geologists, Hydrogeologists
Processing 19 Metallurgists, Chemical
Engineers, Process Engineers
Mining (Surface
&underground)
18 Mining, Software,
Geotechnical, Civil,
Environmental, Tailings
engineers, Surveyors
Integrated
Operations
9 Assorted engineers and data
scientists
Capital, Closure
and R&D
Projects
11 Assorted engineers, scientists
and researchers
Source: Rio Tinto

Previous Page Next Page

MINEXCHANGE 2024 Preprints resources

Extracted Text (may have errors)

1
24-054
Innovative Approaches to Building Technical Capability for a
Modern Mining and Metals Organisation
Brendan Howard
Rio Tinto, Brisbane, Australia
ABSTRACT
Rio Tinto has a large globally distributed technical work-
force and needs to ensure these employees have the requi-
site skills to not only manage technical risk and enable safe
efficient production, but also ensure they are keeping pace
with a fast-changing technological landscape. Traditional
approaches to learning struggle for scale and an inability to
respond to the extreme diversity of capability development
needs. In response, Rio Tinto has successfully introduced
innovative approaches to learning and employee engage-
ment via leveraging the power of globally distributed net-
works for peer-to-peer knowledge transfer and providing
mechanisms to recognise, reward and retain the individual
technical contributors.
INTRODUCTION
Like other mining and metals organisations, Rio Tinto
is dependent on high quality technical expertise to find,
study, build, operate and close the mines and processing
facilities that provide the metals and minerals that under-
pin our modern society. Arguably, the calibre of the tech-
nical workforce together with the quality of the mineral
resources represent the core sources of competitive advan-
tage for any minerals company. As one of the largest miner-
als producers in the world, Rio Tinto employs a large global
technical workforce, currently around 10,000 professionals,
which comprises many engineers and scientists and makes
up approximately 20% of the total Rio Tinto workforce.
The following table and figures present some of the
basic demographics of the technical professional workforce.
In addition to the traditional mining and metals pro-
fessions of geologist, mining engineer and metallurgist,
Rio Tinto today employs a vast array of scientific and
Table 1. Distribution of technical professionals by category
Category
%of Total
Technical
Workforce
Selected Professional
Backgrounds
Asset
Management
37 Assorted engineers especially
Mechanical
Geoscience 6 Geologists, Hydrogeologists
Processing 19 Metallurgists, Chemical
Engineers, Process Engineers
Mining (Surface
&underground)
18 Mining, Software,
Geotechnical, Civil,
Environmental, Tailings
engineers, Surveyors
Integrated
Operations
9 Assorted engineers and data
scientists
Capital, Closure
and R&D
Projects
11 Assorted engineers, scientists
and researchers
Source: Rio Tinto

Help

2
engineering professionals. In the past decade there has been
a substantial increase in the ‘digital’ professionals includ-
ing software engineers, data engineers and data scientists.
Similarly, there has been a sizeable increase in the number
of environmental and social scientists in response to increas-
ing mine closure, community and other ESG obligations.
More than 80% of the technical workforce is in
Australia and North America, but Rio Tinto also has a sub-
stantial and growing footprint in Africa and Asia, with large
development projects in Guinea and Mongolia (Figure 1).
The age demographics in Figure 2 are included to highlight
the fact that approximately one quarter of the workforce
will be at or approaching retirement age in the next decade.
DRIVERS TO INVEST IN TECHNICAL
CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT
Learning underpins the Rio Tinto purpose of “finding bet-
ter ways to provide the materials the world needs,” and
connects strongly with the company values of care, courage
and curiosity (Figure 3). The company objectives of best
operator, impeccable ESG and excel in development all
require a substantial focus on capability development to be
successfully delivered.
The drivers to invest in technical capability develop-
ment span a broad range of business outcomes from ensur-
ing that the organisation remains legally compliant, to safe
operating practices, through to innovating and redesigning
business processes and technologies to transform opera-
tional and safety performance.
The learning needs associated with the different busi-
ness outcomes cover a broad range from very prescriptive
(eg employees need to understand their specific obligations
to be compliant with antitrust regulations) to highly com-
plex and difficult to define (eg we need the skills to design
a zero waste, decarbonised and fully automated mine).
In Figure 4 these business outcomes are shown in order
of increasing complexity from left to right. While train-
ing on the left side leans toward executing tasks, the right
shifts more toward being able to solve increasingly com-
plex problems in an ever changing environment. Technical
knowledge alone won’t solve for this, and programs aim to
enhance or amplify technical capability by building skills
in creative thought, future vision and collaborative intel-
ligence through community.
The accompanying learning delivery methods range
from traditional classroom or discrete e-learning modules
to a more agile, creative and adaptive approach. Agility is
the ability to solve all kinds of challenges as they present,
which isn’t something typically associated with task-based
training. This paper is focused primarily on the right-hand
side of Figure 4.
In addition to the business outcomes described above,
an investment in learning and capability development is
widely recognised as a driver of improved employee engage-
ment and retention.
MEETING THE LEARNING NEEDS
OF THE RIO TINTO TECHNICAL
WORKFORCE
There are several inherent challenges when defining an
approach to satisfy the learning requirements of the global
Rio Tinto technical workforce, starting with the diversity
of learning needs given the breadth of technical disciplines
represented and wide ranges of experience. An early career
professional, fresh from university will have a very different
learning needs profile to a 30-year industry veteran, pos-
sibly with multiple postgraduate qualifications.
Source: Rio Tinto
Figure 1 &2. Geographic and age distribution of Rio Tinto
technical workforce

Previous Page Next Page

MINEXCHANGE 2024 Preprints resources

Download PDF Innovative Approaches to Building Technical Capability for a Modern Mining and Metals Organisation (8)

Extracted Text (may have errors)

2
engineering professionals. In the past decade there has been
a substantial increase in the ‘digital’ professionals includ-
ing software engineers, data engineers and data scientists.
Similarly, there has been a sizeable increase in the number
of environmental and social scientists in response to increas-
ing mine closure, community and other ESG obligations.
More than 80% of the technical workforce is in
Australia and North America, but Rio Tinto also has a sub-
stantial and growing footprint in Africa and Asia, with large
development projects in Guinea and Mongolia (Figure 1).
The age demographics in Figure 2 are included to highlight
the fact that approximately one quarter of the workforce
will be at or approaching retirement age in the next decade.
DRIVERS TO INVEST IN TECHNICAL
CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT
Learning underpins the Rio Tinto purpose of “finding bet-
ter ways to provide the materials the world needs,” and
connects strongly with the company values of care, courage
and curiosity (Figure 3). The company objectives of best
operator, impeccable ESG and excel in development all
require a substantial focus on capability development to be
successfully delivered.
The drivers to invest in technical capability develop-
ment span a broad range of business outcomes from ensur-
ing that the organisation remains legally compliant, to safe
operating practices, through to innovating and redesigning
business processes and technologies to transform opera-
tional and safety performance.
The learning needs associated with the different busi-
ness outcomes cover a broad range from very prescriptive
(eg employees need to understand their specific obligations
to be compliant with antitrust regulations) to highly com-
plex and difficult to define (eg we need the skills to design
a zero waste, decarbonised and fully automated mine).
In Figure 4 these business outcomes are shown in order
of increasing complexity from left to right. While train-
ing on the left side leans toward executing tasks, the right
shifts more toward being able to solve increasingly com-
plex problems in an ever changing environment. Technical
knowledge alone won’t solve for this, and programs aim to
enhance or amplify technical capability by building skills
in creative thought, future vision and collaborative intel-
ligence through community.
The accompanying learning delivery methods range
from traditional classroom or discrete e-learning modules
to a more agile, creative and adaptive approach. Agility is
the ability to solve all kinds of challenges as they present,
which isn’t something typically associated with task-based
training. This paper is focused primarily on the right-hand
side of Figure 4.
In addition to the business outcomes described above,
an investment in learning and capability development is
widely recognised as a driver of improved employee engage-
ment and retention.
MEETING THE LEARNING NEEDS
OF THE RIO TINTO TECHNICAL
WORKFORCE
There are several inherent challenges when defining an
approach to satisfy the learning requirements of the global
Rio Tinto technical workforce, starting with the diversity
of learning needs given the breadth of technical disciplines
represented and wide ranges of experience. An early career
professional, fresh from university will have a very different
learning needs profile to a 30-year industry veteran, pos-
sibly with multiple postgraduate qualifications.
Source: Rio Tinto
Figure 1 &2. Geographic and age distribution of Rio Tinto
technical workforce

6
CONCLUSION
The conventional wisdom of having two months’ worth of
drill bit safety stock is not a good rule of thumb. Even with
the benefits of a VMI, changes in drilling conditions drive
a very high variability from one month to the next. The
monthly standard deviations of 42% only falls to 29% on
a three-month sliding average. In practice, this means that
there is a risk of tools outages even with the safety stock.
Low volume bits have much higher variability than
high volume bits. An improved rule of thumb is therefore
to limit high volume bits to one month of safety stock,
while simultaneously increasing the safety stock of low
volume bits to three months. Boart Longyear’s data indi-
cates that this balance will reduce the risk of outages while
simultaneously reduce the inventory. A practical implica-
tion is to standardize on as few SKUs as possible.
This new model should be adapted for the more vari-
able or consistent conditions in each mine. The suggested
cutoffs of 50 bits and 200 bits between low, medium, and
high volume bits can also be changed. Bits for longhole
drilling may require less safety stock and bits for develop-
ment may need more safety stock.
It may be possible to replace the backward looking
model with a simple forecast based on the mine plan. The
data indicates that a forecasting model could be as simple
as planning three months ahead and tweak the expected
consumption by ±30% to account for ground conditions
and ±30% for changes in drill meters.

Previous Page Next Page

MINEXCHANGE 2024 Preprints resources

Download PDF Improved Drilling Controls Through Forecasting (7)

MINEXCHANGE 2024 Preprints resources

All section downloads (PDF) click to expand contents

Extracted Text (may have errors)

Help

loading

MINEXCHANGE 2024 Preprints resources

Extracted Text (may have errors)

MINEXCHANGE 2024 Preprints resources