Australian Water Management Review Vol 2 2013 | Page 71

problem solving. Given that these companies will also be suffering from business activity decrease in the short term, it would be smart business for a company to secure the partnership for such consultants on an exclusive basis. This may appear more expensive than is the more usual open operating environment but may be cost effective in terms of keeping a competitive edge. At the Sustainable Minerals Institute we differentiate between efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency is doing individual tasks well. For water clear examples are rates of fresh water use per unit of output of commodity and internal reuse and recycling levels. Effectiveness is how well synergies associated with connectivity in the system are exploited to return value. The water system is one of the few things that connect most (all?) of the functional areas of a mine or mineral processing operation and that also connect the whole operation to the surrounding environment and communities. There has been a great deal of technical work published over many years that demonstrates the massive value gains that can be made by cleverly optimising across the whole system rather than just individual pieces. In times when human and financial resources are in limited supply, clever operators will be able to deliver productivity gains by being effective under this definition. Time and money can be saved (as well as water) and this can be achieved while ensuring that commodity output is maintained or even enhanced. This is an example of productivity gains through smarter use of the intellectual resources and computation

tools available to companies and site managers to connect across the water system – they just need to be applied. There has been a long tradition in the mining industry of localisation of company expertise that can be accessed by a range or even all sites in a company. In the current downturn it has become clear that conventional corporate teams to do this are not favoured. A number of companies have significantly reduced the corporate teams with cross-site responsibility for water management. What is emerging, though, is the installation and use of high technology approaches. Modern data gathering and communication systems provide an opportunity for companies to localise highly skille ???????????????????????????????????????M???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Q??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Q?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????()=????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Q?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????%????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????%????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????L?????????????????????L???????????????????????????????????????????????????%?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Q???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????%??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????%?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????=????????????)?????????????????????????????????????????((0