The State of Contractor Management in Mining, 140 Mining Executives Give an Inside Look Into Their Operations

January 27, 2021

Carolyn Alex

Management Controls releases State of Contractor Management in Mining, magnifying the need for Industry Digital Transformation.

Cloud-based contractor management platform, Management Controls Inc. (MCi), released the State of Contractor Management in the Mining Industry, uncovering the highs and lows of mining contractor management in today’s environment.

The company conducted a survey designed to identify key pain points around managing mining contractors and contractor spend. Originally hoping for 50 respondents to chime in, MCi far exceeded its goal with top executives from 140 mining companies sharing firsthand insights.

“Our ultimate goal is to improve relationships between owners and contractors. Mining operations, as you can imagine, are robust, complex, and dynamic. That’s why insight is extremely valuable to us. More than just identifying pain points, we want to dig deeper into the differences between perceived challenges in the industry and solutions at hand,” explained Mr. Ken Naughton, President of Management Controls Inc.

The report sheds a light on opportunities for improving operational efficiencies as well as growing contractor trends in the mining industry. Almost half (45%) of the companies who participated in the survey manage 100 or more onsite contractors and around 23.5% planned on spending $50 million or more at just one site. A glaring majority of the survey participants acknowledged their use of manual spreadsheets to track vital information such as productivity, timelines, and budgets. Perhaps tellingly, the report also revealed high occurrences of project delays and overspending.

Asked about the main takeaways Mr. Naughton said, “With 40% of a mine’s operation cost attributed to the use of contractors, it is mind boggling that such a large amount of spend and complexity is still being managed by spreadsheets or not being managed at all.”

“Powerful digital tools like our TRACK® Platform can help mining companies stay productive and profitable. Now more than ever, mining companies need a way to facilitate better communication between owners and contractors, a means of optimizing manual processes, and transparency when it comes to allocation of resources and expenses,” he continued.

TRACK® is a digital contractor management platform with real-time visibility into daily operations and built-in contract compliance developed by Management Controls Inc. to help businesses streamline processes, increase productivity, and reduce cost. Mining companies already utilizing TRACK® achieved up to 10-15% in annual savings while tightening controls over labor, equipment, and materials spending across the board. Download and read the full report by clicking below.