Imagine a 'shiny' new mine, $1 B in the bank and record commodity prices. So how does a company and its management team create enough tension to maximise profit and to establish a culture that can weather the good and bad times? That was exactly the situation the team at OZ Minerals' world class Prominent Hill mine in South Australia faced in 2009. Three years later, the harder times have come - lower though still healthy commodity prices, rising industry costs, fierce competition for talent, geological and technical issues (common to developing mines). However, the company was able to maximise profit during the good times and equip the culture to deal with the tougher times with minimal turnover. Through the combination of simple systems and processes, people development, application of commercial technical acumen and a combination of yin and yang leadership, OZ Minerals has achieved something quite rare - sustainable continuous improvement. The journey started with a vision. The EGM Operations created the 'spark'. The dream was to create a 'franchise mine' that could be rolled out to new mines and acquisitions as the company grew. However, the real leadership came from his lieutenants who provided the important yin and yang. The GM commercial provided the tools, processes, systems and the bottom line focus. The GM operations focused on culture, leadership, training and sustainability. This powerful combination (along with some good old persistence) was able to create the critical mass required to make continuous improvement go 'viral'. This paper explores this unique case to uncover the essential ingredients that were created and mixed together. It will touch on the key human, technical and system elements that helped achieve significant improvements in plant recoveries, mine throughput and operational efficiencies, while overcoming human capacity, geotechnical and contractual challenges.
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