Planning Advisory

Based on his extensive experience in mine optimization and strategic planning, David Whittle can provide services in the following areas:

  • Framing and facilitating development of strategic plans

  • Building planning capability in your business

  • Reviewing and providing advice on study preparation, process and outcomes

  • Mine plan optimization:

    • Open pit mine plans, production configurations and long term schedules to maximize value

    • Open pit to underground transition to maximize value

  • Analyzing constraints (capital design constraint analysis and reactive constraints analysis)

Active Opportunity Framing

Active Opportunity Framing (AOF) has been developed to give your planning project or study a rapid and well-structured start. You will save money and will be able to reach critical investment decisions faster, and with greater confidence.  The methods have been developed over decades and can trace their origins to the field of Decision Analysis and rational decision-making. Facilitator David Whittle, is a renowned expert in strategic mine planning and has refined the process through application to 30+ upstream, downstream and integrated resource studies.

Application

•        Most types of planning projects and studies, especially for capital projects.

•        Usually conducted at the commencement of a study, but also works well to bring struggling studies back on track. 

•        Integrates perfectly with existing stakeholder management plans, or alternatively, can be used to kick start stakeholder engagement and planning. 

•        Ambiguity and uncertainty are not barriers – these are the conditions in which AOF is most useful.

Benefits

•        Rapidly establishes understanding of the hierarchy of objectives and constraints and the critical issues to be addressed 

•        Delivers a well organised start to your planning project or study

•        Engages key internal stakeholders in a very constructive way

•        Reduces the risk of an opportunity evaporating due to delays in analysis

•        Reduces the overall study costs

•        Reduces the delay in achieving future cash flows

•        Greatly improves the likelihood that the decisions you reach will be well formed and robust

Typical program for a small to mid-size study

The key event in AOF is a structured workshop involving your key study stakeholders and subject matter experts. This Opportunity Framing Workshop is normally scheduled for a full day. A second workshop involving a select group of Study personnel is schedule soon afterwards to set the preliminary Study Work Plan. 

Good preparation is critical and post-workshop support is available on request.

Contact Whittle-DG today for more information about how Active Opportunity Framing can give your study a great start.