Keynote paper: Some perspectives on implications of top globally ranked factors affecting mining on the future of mine planning

Abstract

As of 2019, the ‘Big Four’ accounting and auditing global firms have been reporting annually for about a decade, on perceived top 10 factors affecting the mining industry. The reports refer to the factors as issues, trends or risks faced by the mining industry. The factors and their ranking order are both dynamic as both the list and ranking order change annually and across the firms undertaking the surveys. The factors have a direct or indirect bearing on the mine planning process since mine planning is central in informing high-level or strategic decision making for mining companies. Mining companies must continually adapt since the business environment changes due to the impacts of these factors. This paper considers how the most recently top-ranked factors can affect mine planning into the future and why it is important for the mine planning fraternity to keep track of these factors. This ensures that the mine planning process continues to deliver outputs that enable mining companies to continue to make robust business decisions.