Nitamar joined Kinross in 2011 and immediately stood out as a champion for innovation and continuous improvements at Paracatu. Since joining the Company, he has implemented several innovations that have resulted in improved processes and reduced costs.
This year, Nitamar was responsible for executing an operational procedure that replaced the operation’s SAG mill sieve without interrupting the plant’s feed and operation, making Kinross the first mine in the world to implement this procedure!
In previous years, the SAG mill sieve would need to be replaced approximately 20 times per year, with a resulting average downtime of about 15 minutes per replacement, leading to a 300 oz. production loss. This procedure has now been shared across Kinross’ global continuous improvement and operations departments and will gradually be implemented across all sites.
Nitamar also brought forward ideas during the 2017 water crisis in Paracatu, where he suggested reusing water from the cleaner’s tailings facility – a process that has saved the mine ~$770,000/year and is still being used at Paracatu.
“Nitamar is always bringing new ideas to the table that have minimal financial impact to implement, but result in large savings for the Company and can be implemented across our global operations,” said Lenilson Castro, Process and Maintenance Manager, Paracatu. “He has been a member of our team for a long time, and he continually seeks to improve himself, and the operation. Nitamar truly makes a difference in how we operate and we are lucky to have him.”
