Customer Success Story:
Peabody & Datamine Consulting

Peabody Identified Gaps within Their Operations and Improved Their Overall Technical Capacity with Datamine's Consultants

The customer

Peabody is a leading coal producer, providing essential products to fuel baseload electricity for emerging and developed countries and creating the steel needed to build foundational infrastructure. Their Coppabella and Moorvale complex in Coppabella, 140km southwest of Mackay in Queensland, Australia, combines two open pits and mines PCI coal using dragline and truck & shovel.

The challenges

Like many organisations and industries, the Peabody site at Nebo was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. This along with several other factors lead to Peabody finding themselves short on essential team members and specific skillsets. They were missing an important team player who had the technical capacity and engineering skills to provide guidance, mentorship and to maintain good communication with the operations team. The absence of an experienced and knowledgeable team member across multiple engineering disciplines was the catalyst for Peabody to reach out to Datamine and request a full-time on-site consultant for a contractual period.

The solution

Datamine’s team has expertise in a wide range of commodities including coal, gold, platinum, iron ore, uranium, diamonds, nickel, zinc and lead as well as the full range of open pit and underground mining methods. Our network of regional offices is staffed with experienced engineers and geologists that have worked around the world on different mining projects. Their experience and broad perspective allow them to provide insight on the best application of software tools and processes in a variety of mining methods and commodities. Our consultants deliver a range of benefits and outcomes all tailored to client’s operations and business needs.

Our team of mining engineers assists clients with a range of services to complement in-house capabilities, drawing from years of diverse experience. This includes short- and long-term assignments, as well as periodic requirements such as annual life of mine plan updates. Our mining consultants have access to the industry’s leading tools for strategic planning, mine design and scheduling, and possess expert level skills for efficient delivery of your project.

Our team of geologists are experienced in all aspects of geology from exploration field work to detailed resource estimates. Utilising Datamine’s industry standard software for 3Dresource/reserve modelling allows our team to rapidly complete work that is of a high standard.

The results

Datamine was contracted by Peabody for a period totalling more than six months in the last two years. They requested Datamine to provide an on-site consultant to fill essential positions as well as assist the planning team complete project work. Datamine provided Peabody with various consultants over the contract period including a drill and blast engineer, mid-term dragline planning engineer and a truck and shovel engineer. Datamine’s consultants were employed onsite on a weekly roster and later remotely, providing mid-term support on a fixed term contract.

Our technical support allowed the Peabody team to focus their efforts on their mining sequence whilst maintaining quality design and scheduling. Our experienced team members also offered mentorship and guidance to young engineers within the team and identify gaps with the current process to improve the overall technical capacity of the team. Peabody was able to use the Datamine team members to backfill positions ensuring planning and operations remained steady.

Ken Wang, Senior Mining Consultant – Datamine Australia become the natural choice for the position of the Onsite Consultant thanks to his previous knowledge of the Coppabella mine, long-standing working relationship and his extensive mining expertise. Blake Harris, Strategic Planning Superintendent at Peabody said: “Ken is a real asset to the team and I highly recommend him.”, whilst Technical Services Superintendent Gerry Morales praised Ken for his ‘quality of work, positive attitude and good professional reputation’.

Overall, Datamine consulting services allowed for Peabody’s operations to maintain their operations, high-level production standards, prepare for future interruptions and improve their overall technical capacity while being faced with challenges from short staffing and key skill gaps in their current workforce.

Company

Industry

Region

Software Solution

Challenges

  • The Covid-19 pandemic and other factors lead to Peabody being short on essential team members and specific skillsets
  • They were missing the technical capacity and engineering skills to provide guidance, mentorship and to maintain good communication with the operations team

Outcomes

  • Datamine provided Peabody with various consultants 
  • Peabody focused their efforts on it’s mining sequence whilst maintaining quality design and scheduling
  • Mentorship and guidance provided to young engineers within the team and identify gaps with the current process
  • This also led to backfilling of positions, maintaining their operations, high-level production standards, preparing for future interruptions
  • Thus, improving their overall technical capacity

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