Does Your Project Need A Health Check?
PROJECT AUDITING PAYS FOR ITSELF
The auditing of the project will be more than a detailed sampling and examination procedure which identifies problems and puts forward recommendations to correct them. It will also identify and reinforce where the system is working well so as to present a balanced view of the operation.
An Independent assessment prior to going for Bank Finance is much better than finding a fatal flaw or a disconnect during the process. The company loses credibility if this happens.
Auditing has been used extensively in Mineral Processing Plant quality management to independently identify problems and the systems causing them. The ultimate purpose is to provide management with factual information about the plant based on bench marking with what the author believes is “the industry standard” in each area to set up a corrective “continuous improvement plan”, with accountability and commitment of resources, to improve the operation.
Responsibility for corrective action must be clearly assigned and the action plan carried out as soon as possible to correct the immediate problems and to take steps to stop them happening again in the future.
The whole focus for improvement is based on the belief that no plant has ever achieved perfection and any improvement should result in “maximising nickel production and minimising the associated cost”.
Essential elements of the plant audit would be as follows:
Management responsibility, delegation, job descriptions, occupational health and safety, duty of care, planning day to day and long term, document control, verbal and written communication, metallurgical performance, maintenance performance, assay and laboratory service, metallurgical accounting, purchasing, consumable stock control, operating methods, operating method control, training on and off the job, plant inspections, monitoring and testing, technical innovation in the plant, outsourcing of functions, weekly & monthly reporting and control, daily and scheduled meetings, corrective and preventative action, handling and storage, accommodation and rosters, plant statistics.
Care will be taken to obtain factual information of how things are being operated in the plant by asking the same question of several people seeking to avoid what is essentially miss information and resisting offering solutions or neither confirming or denying whether the current situation is acceptable.
The Project Audit will be conducted in a discreet manner and be absolutely confidential.
The scope of work includes:
● Review project information
● Project metallurgy overview
● Define the project objectives
● Develop a financial model for the plant, operating costs & revenues, establish sensitivity & drivers
● Map out continuous improvement objectives & programme
● Review operating costs, break up, nature & function, alternatives, management
● Define infrastructure requirements
● Stockpiling & blending
● Crushing
● Grinding
● Gravity
● Flotation
● Thickening
● Filtering & Drying
● Tailings
● Power, water, air
● Metallurgical Accounting
● Concentrate quality, handling & shipment
● Sample preparation assaying
● Maintenance
● Training & manning
● Operating procedures
● Ore type characteristics
● Process control
● Engineering facets
● Continuous improvement
A detailed Plant Audit report will provide a blueprint plan with a number of recommendations for further action. Every aspect of the plant and unit operations (crushing, grinding, flotation, thickening, filtering etc) will be covered and comment made on how well the system is working or otherwise. As an example previous reports have included 16 pages of recommendations covering approximately 128 (estimated) issues.
The recommendations will be based on a fair, honest and practical appraisal. It is believed that the perfect plant does not exist and improvements can always be made provided exhaustive technical effort is implemented, productivity increased and costs reduced initially without spending large amounts of capital.
Specific issues will be addressed and deliverables will include:
● Systems
● Procedures
● Organisational structure
● Functionality
● Cost management
● Safety aspects
● Metallurgical accounting
● Reporting
● Capital projects
● Plant technical investigations
● Plant statistics
● Performance indicators
● Training
● Maintenance performance
● Metallurgical accounting
In addition a “what happens if” and Risk assessment scenario will be applied.