Your browser is not supported anymore.

We suggest changing from Internet Explorer to another option. The Internet Explorer browser is no longer supported by Microsoft. Please install or upgrade one of the browsers below.

Work smarter, improve continuously, enhance skills

December 10, 2015

Boliden Tara Mines is in no doubt about the positive impact that systematic training of equipment operators and maintenance personnel can have on efficiency. So much so, that it has made training a fundamental element of its business strategy. Boliden Tara Mines in Navan, Ireland, has been producing lead and zinc for almost 40 years, and in recent times has experienced many of the classic challenges of an older, deepening underground mine
Realizing that it needed to adapt its operations to address these challenges, the management team made two major strategic decisions. The first step was to restructure the organization towards a ‘one mine concept’, instead of the previous three-area concept, each with its own self-contained mining teams.

The second was to step up its personnel training program in order to enhance skills, work smarter and establish a climate of continuous improvement. Atlas Copco, which supplies Boliden Tara Mines with mining equipment, was also chosen to be the mine’s partner in training development. Mike Lowther, Manager of Mining, says the new direction was essential in order to maximize efficiency and flexibility. 

"The deeper we go into the mine, the tougher the logistics get,” he says. “We can’t do anything about exchange rates, metal prices or orebody grades but we do have the ability to control the efficiencies of our mining and our costs. Mineralization is only ore if you can mine it profitably – to turn it into ore, the mine has to be economically viable."

Mike Lowther ,Manager of Mining

Cross-skilling in focus

Bolting 2015 Face drill rigs Rock reinforcement Training Mining and Rock Excavation Service division Rock bolting rigs Underground mining International Drilling Customer story

More news on this subject