This overview is designed to help attendees see our current working in the context of our historical experience as well as our current situation.  We have all been living and working through a period of significant change as a result of our national economic and market environment.  The degree and significance of the change we are experiencing suggests that we will look back from this point in time and refer to it as the “old normal”, recognize that our present time was one of transition, and refer to what follows as the “new normal”.  With this perspective, we have a better chance of managing the change and transition that is upon us.

This course is designed to provide an overview into some of the tools and techniques that will help operators significantly improve their process and lower the company’s operating cost.  Seeing and understanding “stone production” as a value chain helps operators maximize the entire process rather than maximizing individual processes. Attendees will learn about the power of applying “Lean - 6 Sigma” principles to identify and reduce waste while improving the value-added process.

This course is designed to help quarry operations and management understand and use practical mine/quarry planning to improve their operational results while improving their safety and financial outcomes.  Practical applied production planning keeps one eye on current production activity and the other eye on middle / long term development requirements and objectives.  Production has always been about designing, evaluating, creating, and managing an excavation sequence that is sustainable and profitable.  Mines have always had to be rigorous and disciplined to bring a property online and make it go.  Quarries, in the absence of market volumes that traditionally insured viability, can now benefit from a more disciplined planning effort that borrows from traditional mine planning programs as well as management methods borrowing from Lean-6 Sigma concepts.

Drilling and Blasting as part of the crushed stone production process traditionally targets taking the rock in the bench apart and avoiding any of the undesirable consequences in the doing of it.  Advanced technologies combined with improved design and disciplines now offer significant opportunity for drilling and blasting to improve productivity at the primary crusher and influence waste minimization at both pit and plant.  This “chemical crushing” approach to drilling and blasting represents the largest process lever or fulcrum point for stone producers to lower total cost of production, avoid costly problems and facilitate productivity.  This course will present the "chemical crushing" concept and provide the participants with an overview of drilling and blasting as well as their important relation to it. The key inter-related and mutually dependent design factors of drill and blast and how they contribute to the success of the rock production stream are addressed.

The rock crush, shape and size process begins with the “chemical crushing” that occurs during the blast. While most people recognize that they have some influence on the muckpile fragmentation, it is common to underestimate how much control of the fragmentation in the muckpile they actually can have and the real extent of the process benefits downstream from drill and blast. This course discusses the purpose of drilling and blasting in producing crushed stone along with the relative cost of drilling and blasting versus other quarry process activities. It describes the factors affecting fragmentation and the cost/production opportunities offered with optimized fragmentation.

With the introduction of precision, programmable electronic detonators and signature waveform analysis, alternative timing sequences can be derived that provide reduced community perception of blasting events. This new technology has resulted in conflicts when regulatory standards based on the "8 millisecond rule" have restricted the use of modified delay timing.  This presentation will outline the origins of the 8 milli-second concept and why current blasting technology has proven the limitations of this theory.

Load and haul operations are central to the success of any quarry, ensuring both raw and finished materials are delivered to the right place, at the right time.  Continuous improvement does not require a grand program; rather it can be a mindset.  This course will encourage such a mindset by quantifying low hanging fruit and highlighting tools available to improve fleet management and the load and haul process.

Many times, people are surprised when accidents occur, but in reality, they are preventable. A positive safety culture in the workplace involves everyone’s commitment to foster the right attitudes, best practices and policies that will help prevent loss. The lack of identifying hazardous conditions and the mistakes one take with their behaviors are some of the leading factors in accidents. Why does this happen? Where is the commitment? What does it really take to make a difference? This session will teach us to better understand why people make these choices. Improved education on identifying hazardous conditions and fostering better decision-making skills has proved to make a difference.

Litigation from quarry activities continues to pose problems for many operations.  The cost of handling such complaints, if not handled correctly can be significant and lead to additional regulations and restrictions.  This course will provide a review of essential steps to handling blasting or any complaint that arises from a neighboring property owner.  A proper understanding of the methodology that has proven to be effective in legal cases is presented so every operator can  review their current policy for dealing with complaints.

The goal of the “Principles of Compressive Crushing and Raw Materials” course is to improve processes and instill expertise in crushing mechanics, and to understand the principles of compressive crushing and how raw material characteristics affect the crushing process.  The learning objective is to gain understanding about the fundamental principles of compressive crushing equipment in order to be able to use the right machine for different applications and production targets.

Understanding the dynamics and function of HSI & VSI crushing equipment to reduce waste, lower energy consumptions, and optimize productivity is critical to making the desired product and reducing waste and cost in the plant. This classroom lecture will provide attendees the basics on physics and mechanical principles of breaking rock in HSI & VSI crushers that can provide operators with the knowledge to select and or “tune” equipment to lower total operating costs by increasing productivity and lowering maintenance costs.

Recognizing that many crushers are underutilized or even mis-sized, this course will provide an overview and solution for common set up and maintenance issues that generally result in significant production bottlenecks. This session will provide practical controls, troubleshooting tips and adjustments to optimize the crusher set up.

Correct selection, installation, and maintenance are critical to product quality and the running of a safe, efficient, and thrifty plant. Recognizing that many screening and sizing plants are seldom fully optimized, this course will provide an overview of screen types, design, and function with solutions for common set up and maintenance issues that generally result in significant production bottlenecks or sources of waste.

The purpose of this course is to improve processes, instill expertise in crushing and screening mechanics, and to understand what affects the crushing & screening processes. The learning objective is to gain understanding about the fundamental principles of crushing and screening equipment and processes in order to determine the right machine and process design for different applications and production targets.

The wall between IT and operations is disappearing. Mining has longstanding been an instinctual industry. Coupling data driven processes with industry expertise, find out how to move away from gut feelings and let data drive the bottom line of your business. Find out how the biggest players in our industry are using data to maximize their profits and optimize their operations. The data is all there, all you have to do is listen to it. This session will provide attendees with the principles of Analytics and Business Insight, along with examples of real world results, and an understanding of how to get results from a data-driven continuous improvement initiative at their site.

Best practices together with process improvement-based operations management will improve safety, productivity, and find the total lowest cost/highest profit working scenario for any given quarry.  This session will help the attendee review and consider the cumulative material presented to date and put it in perspective for take home and application.

Drilling is the first and fundamental step in unit operations and more importantly is the foundation of an optimized blast event and fragmentation result.  For the driller and operations manager, understanding and promoting good field practice is critical to getting improved results.  To that end, we will review field practice standards and methods to achieve maximum precision and accuracy with blast hole results.  Additionally, understanding the drill technology options available to the quarry, how to select and apply them, how to minimize cost and maximize quality outcomes will be discussed with an eye towards supporting the blast phase of production.

Understanding and optimizing a complex blasting program can be overwhelming, even for those who have extensive blasting experience. The purpose of this workshop is to create an entry point for those new to the blast optimization process, and provide a smaller, discussion-centered environment to build the groundwork for understanding. By the end of the hour, you will come away with a framework for understanding the critical success and risk factors of your blasting program, and the tools to start down the road of identifying, evaluating, and improving your blasting process.

The design and evolution of blasting technologies has over time evolved and continues to be refined to cope with the variety of needs and field conditions which operators encounter in the field. Additionally, the unique and diverse nature of the geology at the operations and the role it plays in the design and field execution of the blasting operation continually creates many exceptions and modifications to the traditional rules of thumb.  This workshop is intended to take problems and issues that attendees face, address their challenges and needs and thru an interactive approach present possible alternative solutions so they can achieve the objectives of the drill and blast process at their operations.

This workshop is designed to show attendees how to get the most out of the final stage of the crushing and screening process.  Participants will learn how to optimize crusher yield and increase production of end products. The workshop will let participants simulate a crushing and screening optimization, step by step, by using pen and paper with professional guidance.

Utilizing Sandvik’s state of the art PlantDesigner® software, operations managers can create a virtual dynamic model of a crushing and screening plant.  Once a working model is created and validated, the model can be used to check for mass flow, spot bottlenecks, see problems, run what if's, and optimize plant designs.  This workshop will work through real world plant setups to demonstrate the modeling and analysis method.

Every mobile machine in a quarry has one or more operators.  She/he is a vital contributor to the performance, safety, and cost efficiency of the overall quarry or yard.  What can be done to systematically improve operator competency?  This workshop will show how operator performance can vary, and propose effective yet practical methods to address competency, listen to student experiences, and welcome open dialogue for shared learning.

The challenging truth about work activity is that most of it does not create value in the eyes of the customer.  Only at the points of transformation (i.e. blasting, crushing, screening) and services such as solutions consulting, do we conduct activity that the customer deems valuable.  Most of the remaining work is either necessary non-value added work or wasteful activity.  This course builds on the general session concepts and breaks down the anatomy of activity further, separating value from waste.  Additionally, attendees will gain insights into methods of identifying and eliminating waste from their operations, thereby increasing efficiency and improving profitability.

Whether it’s a change to a new piece of equipment, technology, concept or organizational structure, change is one of the most difficult and costly elements a business confronts.  Humans are hardwired to not change.  The cost of slow change is difficult to capture as it hides beneath inhibited work pace, delays in use of new technology, or even open resistance, sapping the expected saving and efficiencies from improvement efforts.  Good change management does not happen by accident, it happens by intent and process.  This course gets under the surface of the challenge to change and the process to effectively lead and manage change in an organization at an accelerated pace.

Blasting is one of the main factors for changing our overall production rates, costs and efficiencies in mining. Often, we revert to non-data driven methods to achieve a desired outcome when we’re making changes to our operation. In Analytical Blasting Methods of Blast Design, you’ll get an overview of the approach that many successful operations have taken to improve blasting outcomes when they’re working on continuous improvement projects or using data to achieve a specific blasting outcome. You’ll get insight into the data-driven techniques and processes that are leveraged to achieve best in class blasting results relative to your operation.

Simulators are effective - and cost effective - when compared to the true total cost of “on the job or site” training. This activity provides a demonstration using a state-of-the-art drill simulator for instruction of operation techniques and response to actual field conditions.

Simulators are a tremendous value as part of a comprehensive competency development plan for machine operators. Simulators are effective - and cost effective - when compared to the true total cost of “on the job or site” training. A state-of-the-art load and haul simulator will be used to illustrate operation technique development and response to actual field conditions.