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Our teams have the capabilities, in-depth sector knowledge, and firsthand experience to put your plans into action. Have a look at just a few of the initiatives we are working on.
Case studies
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The Americas Metals and Mining Center of Excellence (CoE) sets us apart as a leading-edge resource, accelerating knowledge transfer and innovation. We empower you to navigate the next era of metals and minerals, pushing boundaries for sustainable progress.
EY Americas Metals & Mining CoE
Case studies
Operational excellence
Technology transformation
Cybersecurity
Asset management: Mobile fleet
Asset management: Maintenance
Enterprise operating model
The challenge: An underground gold mining organization had fallen months behind in expansion plans.
The solution: EY teams applied de-siloed thinking to priorities, defined ownership and accountabilities and helped strengthen internal capabilities to de-bottleneck deliverables and accelerate value delivery. Following a two-week rapid diagnostic, improvement opportunities were identified, with workplans created and a dashboard used to track progress. Planning and sequencing were realigned, coaching was provided to prioritize routines, enable efficiencies and empower frontline teams.
Value added: Within three months, the organization experienced a 5% bolter overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) improvement and an 18% jump in development advance, as well as measured US$5m in net present value (NPV) savings.
The challenge: A mining company with a focus on discovering, acquiring and developing high-quality gold and polymetallic assets wanted to address major roadblocks hampering its growth: outdated technology and decentralized enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Furthermore, the lack of integrated processes across different regions and reliance on manual processes outside the core ERP applications were negatively impacting its business.
The solution: EY professionals delivered a multiyear strategic technology roadmap, identifying business process and IT transformation initiatives, key sequencing and timing of projects, and the underlying interim and end state technology solutions and architecture to enable the roadmap project initiatives. Subsequently, EY teams completed the global SAP S/4HANA transformation, consolidating three regions (North America, Asia and Europe) into a single instance of SAP.
Value added: A single instance of SAP S/4HANA replaced multiple, disparate legacy SAP and non-SAP systems, resulting in reduced total cost of ownership and system maintenance complexity. Harmonized business processes and SAP solutions enabled more integrated reporting and comparability across regions, while streamlined and modernized corporate budgeting, planning and financial consolidation was achieved through the implementation of new SAP S/4HANA functionality.
Additionally, productivity of mine maintenance operations improved through the deployment of SAP mobile solutions for real-time processing of equipment maintenance operations. The transformation also enhanced data quality and compliance across finance and operations, leading to increased visibility of equipment performance and reliability, better tracking of managed spend across procurement and stronger SOX compliance.
Participants had the opportunity to test their own crisis management processes and escalation protocols and make decisions based on the information that was progressively provided during the exercise, representing a real-life situation.
Value added: Through tailored immersive simulations, the company gained a better understanding of its weaknesses and gaps in its current processes, roles and responsibilities, and overall governance, which included suboptimal communication and collaboration between corporate executives and the IT and OT teams at sites. Actionable recommendations led the organization to improve its own incident response and crisis management capabilities, refine decision-making, encourage better collaboration and strengthen overall cybersecurity resilience.
The challenge: A large mining company engaged the EY organization to simulate tailored cyber threats to test and identify potential gaps in its response plans to potential cyber attacks. The client organization has operations in multiple countries throughout the Americas.
The solution: An EY team created seven bespoke, real-world incidents, based on the latest cybersecurity intelligence affecting the mining sector, to test the impact on the organization’s operational technology (OT). The EY team then facilitated all seven tabletop exercises, leveraging collaboration technology to make sure all voices from the participants were captured. The AI-generated supporting content created a realistic and immersive look and feel to the experience. Each simulation session was delivered in the local language to encourage and enable everyone’s engagement.
The challenge: The client needed a deep understanding of the asset management opportunities to improve its mobile fleet, including drills, shovels and trucks.
The solution: With EY personnel embedded into operations and routines, and after conducting more than 50 interviews with on-site stakeholders and comparing performance metrics with benchmarks, gaps were identified and improvement recommendations were outlined across people, processes and technology.
Value added: Operations teams were engaged with seven improvement initiatives, resulting in US$16m in capital expenditure (capex) and operating expenditure (opex) cost savings realized.
The challenge: A client with both open-pit and underground operations was looking to minimize unplanned maintenance to enable successful delivery on production targets.
The solution: Working with finance and operations data, EY professionals built a business case to help refine asset management practices, assign value to “doing maintenance right” and support the case for change. The EY team compared baseline and work management to identify the target level of maturity, using sector insights, leading practices and empirical findings. Controlling the environment led to reduced labor and material costs and improved reliability.
Value added: The organization realized US$97m in annual savings and US$47m in annual revenue uplift through greater asset availability and utilization.
... assessment, the client is positioned to effectively manage change. This strategic overhaul also established an organizational structure that is improved for efficiency, agility and sustained growth.
The challenge: A mid-tier mining client aimed to redesign its organizational structure to better align with a transformed asset portfolio and support the growth objectives of an upcoming project.
The solution: Having conducted an internal and external scan, the EY team delved into design principles, priority operating model issues and cost improvement opportunities before recommending a new organizational design, operating model, execution roadmap and impact assessment in support of change management considerations to help meet future ambitions.
Value added: By implementing the recommended organizational design and operating model, along with a clear execution roadmap and impact assessment, the client is positioned to effectively manage change. This strategic overhaul also established an organizational structure that is improved for efficiency, agility and sustained growth.
Leveraging a global process framework, we offer a panoramic view of the metals and minerals value chain that draws on the vast knowledge and experience of our global network. This framework, combined with our data and analytics, allows us to identify high-value opportunities and develop prototype solutions. Through this approach, we empower our clients to achieve operational excellence and sustainable growth in the competitive metals and minerals sector.
At the heart of our strategy is the Americas Metals and Mining Centre of Excellence (CoE), which sets us apart through its comprehensive understanding and capabilities. Our CoE excels in delivering a wide range of services, from technical and integrated operations support to asset strategy, operational technology solutions, and advancements in safety and sustainability.
Our deep understanding of the metals and minerals landscape enables us to connect technology to business decisions and add value through improved productivity. Balancing risk and efficiency, we take a holistic approach to improvement — from mine to market — putting each aspect of operations to the test to seize the full potential of technology.
Leveraging a global process framework, we offer a panoramic view of the metals and minerals value chain that draws on the vast knowledge and experience of our global network. This framework, combined with our data and analytics, allows us to identify high-value opportunities and develop prototype solutions. Through this approach, we empower our clients to achieve operational excellence and sustainable growth in the competitive metals and minerals sector.
In a world that is changing faster than ever, we’re working with the world’s metals and minerals leaders to shape the future with confidence.
Our EY teams offer strategic services across the value chain, leveraging global programs rooted in local market insights. Every day, our people are committed to developing innovative processes and business models that drive business transformation, strengthen corporate strategy and transactions, and advance sustainability efforts while addressing risk.
Operating in a world of disruption and geopolitical volatility, the need to stay ahead of technology and transformation, investors looking for increased governance and transparency, and the environment demanding stewardship for future sustainability, the pressure on metals and minerals organizations is mounting.
With a worldwide network of more than 10,000 sector-specific professionals, EY teams understand the business drivers facing the sector, offering a broad range of services to help evolving organizations thrive — today, tomorrow and well into the future.
Our priority alliances and participation in sector initiatives provide unique perspectives on the mining value chain. We work alongside more than 1,600 of the world’s leading mining and minerals organizations ranging from steel and base metals to critical minerals, commodity trading and bulk mining. This makes us a key go-to-market differentiator.
How EY can help you
EY methodology
EY services
Working with EY
Digital Mine
EY Digital Mine 2.0 is a suite of capabilities, frameworks and solutions that enable the successful digital transformation of metals and minerals companies and deliver longer-term value faster, with minimal risk and minimum business disruption.
This proprietary EY template includes a preconfigured SAP S/4 system and corresponding documentation containing global leading practices for metals and minerals companies in key operational and supporting process areas. This asset will jump-start and improve implementation — expediting the timeline, reducing overall cost and providing the foundation for more advanced emerging technological solutions.
EY SAP Metals & Mining template
In response to shifts in sustainability, technology and geopolitics, our professionals assist metals and minerals companies in navigating rapid change. We guide organizations through transformation by aligning workforce, HR functions and business strategies for optimal resource allocation. Mobility and immigration are key elements in the people agenda. We support companies in deploying talent across borders, verifying that employees with the right skill sets are in the right locations, while also reducing mobility-related risks and costs for both employers and employees.
Organization and people
Our specialized cybersecurity solutions for the metals and minerals sector provide a focused approach to the redesign, implementation and operation of a robust cybersecurity operating model, enhancing organizational resilience, preparing teams to respond with agility in critical situations, and establishing security and continuity in operations.
Cybersecurity transformation
We understand the unique environmental challenges faced by the metals and minerals sector and provide tailored services to help these companies navigate their carbon transformation journey effectively and achieve their sustainability goals while maintaining competitive advantage. Our comprehensive suite of offerings includes helping our clients with strategy planning, reducing carbon footprint, setting achievable decarbonization targets, implementing carbon-pricing strategies, engaging in carbon trading and navigating carbon tax advisory services.
Decarbonization
We offer specialized knowledge to the metals and minerals sector, addressing unique sector challenges — from market volatility to regulatory changes. We assist companies in reimagining their ecosystems and improving portfolios for sustainable growth and innovation. Our tailored approach helps stabilize business operations during a crisis, navigate downturns and fast-track value creation, making sure clients are positioned for future success in a dynamic global market.
Transaction and valuations