Gladstone. East End Mine. My first foray into mine management, and a damn successful one too I might add. Here are the highlights of my little over one year with Cement Australia;
1) Doubled production.
2) Reduced total costs by 15%.
3) Added 17 years to the mine life.
That sounds like either EE (Cement Australia) was a dog's breakfast or I was a superstar. The answer is somewhere in the middle (actually all I did was the basics). Ultimately, this was a good example of a company focussing on its core business - in this case cement - and not trying too hard to improve some of it's contributors. My predecessor, for example, was in his mid-60's when I took over from him, and had been there more than 30 years. He was a good guy, with plenty to offer, but things at EE had not changed in decades.
For instance, I was able to get them to double production by changing one thing - getting our gear and people to do development stripping, rather than getting a contractor in once per year and doing just what was needed for the next 12 months. We better utilised our resources, reduced external costs, and actually opened up more ground. Win.
This led directly to the next saving too, reducing costs by 15%. We also did that by recognising where we spent the most money, which was in doing after hours work. By redesigning the ROM, working with the kiln guys to create more space, and planning for more regular supply of high-grade, we were able to reduce the amount of shift work. We also hired our own engineer, and reduced our reliance on consultants. Also win.
The last one was just some longer-term planning, doing some drilling, getting a new model prepared, and doing some scheduling. It was pretty easy to achieve, but the fact remained it had not been done for years. So altogether, I was able to make somewhat of a name for myself in a little over 12 months. In that time we also introduced proper operator training and assessment to the site, a la my old mate Richo, and people in their 50's and 60's who had never been formally trained got to experience this. I saw this as a significant win-win.
So why did I only stay with CA for 1.5 years? Well, put it this way - when I got the job, after my old boss Dick gave me a reference, he said he almost put in for it himself as it sounded like a great retirement gig. In that, he was correct. I did well in my first year - on top of all those things, we demolished the old plant and held an auction for the myriad equipment inside. That happened after I left actually, but was all arranged by me. We negotiated new and better supply contracts. We vastly improved local community relations. In fact the East Action Group, who were against the mine for years, were sad to see me go, as I had put a lot into local weed control, listened to their issues, and I was in the process of designing a program to recharge the main aquifer that they felt had been depleted by mine dewatering over the years. I certainly had a lot of proud moments in this stint.
I also met and made some good friends / colleagues. My boss in this job was the kiln plant manager - Kevin Savory. Kevin and I worked together again at JMS (two jobs later for me). Bob was in the same boat, as was Ib. They were both in the procurement side. Bob I worked with again at JMS too, and then again at ASN years later. Ib was also a consultant to ASN. Both JMS and ASN were run by John Reeve, who was Kevin's boss at CA. So my reputation in that short period saw me get plenty of work in later years.
The mine was near a small hamlet called Mt. Larcom. I rarely ventured there, except for the odd bit of lunch. 45 minutes north was Rockhampton, a decent-sized plan that I spent NYE 2004 at, with Naomi, Peter and his partner. It was nothing huge, but fun enough. Where I lived was Gladstone - another decent-sized town in Central Queensland, but not quite of the 100,000+ size, as many of them are, such as Townsville or Cairns.
Not the best photo, as it is a photo of the print I have on my wall. Fond memories of a brief period in my life, and my transition away from the WA Goldfields. I believe it was the change I needed to make some changes in my psyche and my life. Recent feelings have shown that my weaknesses remain a part of me, I just need to continue to choose to think and act in a positive, gracious, and loving way.
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