In 2016, Fort Knox recorded $16.2 million in savings from Continuous Improvement (CI) efforts and expects savings of approximately $21 million for 2017. These numbers are among the highest totals across Kinross’ operations and as a result, the site won Kinross’ Continuous Improvement award.
“We are thrilled to receive this award and be recognized by the Company. We have put a lot of time into improving our CI efforts and maximizing ways to implement positive change. A big thank you to our CI team for their hard work and dedication,” said Eric Hill, Vice-President and General Manager, Fort Knox.
Fort Knox received the CI award for the following improvements implemented over 2016:
- Approved plan to move from two ball mills to one: Plan is expected to increase mill life by slowing down the mill to focus on high-grade materials and have marginal mill grade material sent to the leach pads.
- Reduced haulage time: Implemented a multi-plate tunnel that significantly reduced haulage times.
- Shovel productivity improvements: Increased operator training, drilling and blasting practices and maintenance improvements in order to get more than 3,000 tonnes per hour (tph) from a previous 2,850 tph.
- Granite-schist contact material: Collaboration between processing, mine planning and mine operations departments to process mineralized granite-schist that was previously considered waste.
The team was also recognized for implementing efficiencies – such as increasing bench height – to improve productivity at the mine.
Fort Knox also executed their CI mandate with one of the leanest CI teams. The team had open communication between other Kinross sites and would actively share best practices to improve Kinross operations across the globe.
Congratulations, Fort Knox!
Members of the Fort Knox team with the CI award. From left to right: Eric Hill, Vice-President and General Manager, Fort Knox, Mark Fullenwider, Manager, Business Development, Fort Knox, Brandon Holm, Continuous Improvement Superintendent, Fort Knox
From left to right: Lauren Roberts, Chief Operating Officer, Eric Hill, Vice-President and General Manager, Fort Knox, Helene Timpano, Vice-President, Operations Strategy, Toronto, Michal Kowalczyk, Senior Manager, Continuous Improvement and Innovation, Toronto
The multi-plate tunnel implemented to improve efficiencies for truck routes
The team hard at work finding opportunities for improvement throughout the site
