Mineral Processing Plant Management Training Course
Manage a mineral processing plant for performance: throughput, metal recovery, operating cost and reliability, from a manager's viewpoint rather than a metallurgist's.
Free substitution at any time · 30+ days' notice: full refund minus 10%. Cancellation policy
Course Overview
The Mineral Processing Plant Management Training Course equips plant managers, processing superintendents, and the mine and corporate leaders who depend on them with the means to run a plant for performance, cost, and metal recovery. The plant is where the value in the ore is either captured or lost, and for operations across the Gulf and Africa, where water, power, reagents, and spare parts often travel long distances, small losses in recovery or availability can outweigh savings made anywhere else on the site. The course treats the plant as a managed business unit rather than as a set of unit processes. Participants build a working manager's understanding of crushing and grinding, separation, flotation, leaching, thickening, and product handling, enough to read what the process is telling them and to question it. They then concentrate on the measures that matter: throughput, feed grade, recovery, concentrate quality, plant availability, reagent and energy use, and cost per tonne treated and per unit of metal produced. Mass balances, the grade-recovery trade-off, and metallurgical accounting are explained in management terms, so that reported metal can be trusted and reconciled with the mine and with sales. Participants also examine how the plant is led day to day: shift control, operating targets, maintenance and shutdown planning using ISO 55000 principles, laboratory and sampling oversight, reagent and consumables contracts, and the relationship with the mine over ore blending and feed. Water, tailings stewardship under the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM), energy use, ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 management systems, and team capability complete the scope. The course addresses management and governance only; it does not teach process design, laboratory methods, or operator skills. The course is delivered through plant case studies, performance data exercises, a simplified mass balance and cost model, shutdown planning scenarios, and a final plant improvement workshop. Participants leave with a plant performance dashboard outline, a recovery loss review, a cost per tonne breakdown, a shutdown readiness checklist, and a plant improvement plan they can adapt to their own operation.
Learning Objectives
- Explain the main stages of mineral processing in management terms and where value is captured or lost in each.
- Interpret plant measures of throughput, feed grade, recovery, concentrate quality, and availability together.
- Assess the grade-recovery trade-off and its effect on product value, payment terms, and customer commitments.
- Use mass balance and metallurgical accounting results to test whether reported metal can be trusted.
- Analyze operating cost per tonne treated and per unit of metal across energy, reagents, wear parts, and labor.
- Establish shift control, operating targets, and review routines that keep the plant stable and productive.
- Coordinate ore blending, feed planning, and schedule changes with the mining team before they reach the plant.
- Plan maintenance and major shutdowns using ISO 55000 principles, realistic scopes, and clear readiness reviews.
- Oversee sampling, laboratory services, and data integrity as management controls rather than technical details.
- Manage reagent, consumable, and service contracts for cost, security of supply, and performance.
- Provide management oversight of water, energy, and tailings stewardship using GISTM and ISO 14001.
- Develop a plant improvement plan with priorities, owners, value estimates, and review points.
Who Should Attend
Learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Read the main stages of a processing plant and ask informed questions about recovery and cost at each.
- Interpret throughput, grade, recovery, quality, and availability as one performance picture.
- Rank recovery losses by value and direct the plant team toward the largest opportunities first.
- Judge grade-recovery decisions by their effect on product value, sales terms, and customer commitments.
- Use mass balance and metallurgical accounting reports to test the reliability of reported metal figures.
- Break down plant cost per tonne and per unit of metal and act on the main drivers.
- Run shift control and performance routines that keep plant operation stable and predictable.
- Coordinate ore feed, blending, and schedule changes with the mining team before they reach the plant.
- Lead a shutdown readiness review with contractors and make sound decisions about critical spares.
- Provide management oversight of water, energy, tailings, safety, and environmental systems.
- Report plant results on a consistent set of measures to executives, boards, and regulators.
- Build a plant improvement plan with priorities, owners, value estimates, and review points.
Course Outline
Course Outline:
The Processing Plant as a Managed Business
- The plant's place in the mining value chain and its effect on the value of the whole operation
- Plant, mine, and corporate expectations, and how to agree realistic performance targets
- Crushing, grinding, separation, flotation, leaching, and thickening explained for managers
- Accountabilities of plant manager, metallurgy, maintenance, laboratory, and shift teams
- The core measures: throughput, feed grade, recovery, concentrate quality, and availability
- How to walk a plant and what a manager should look for and ask about
- Practical application: participants map where value is captured or lost in a sample plant flowsheet
Recovery, Quality, and Metal Accounting
- Recovery losses: where they occur and how to rank them by value
- The grade-recovery trade-off and its link to product specifications and payment terms
- Mass balance basics and what a sound balance tells management
- Metallurgical accounting, reconciliation with mine and sales, and the handling of unaccounted metal
- Product sales terms and how quality affects what the customer pays for the material
- Sampling, laboratory services, and data integrity as management controls
- Practical application: participants review a simplified mass balance and identify the largest recovery opportunity
Operating Cost and Daily Control
- Plant cost structure: energy, reagents, grinding media, wear parts, water, and labor
- Cost per tonne treated compared with cost per unit of metal produced
- Reagent, consumable, and service contracts, and security of supply for remote sites
- Monthly cost reviews, variance analysis, and linking spending decisions to recovered metal
- Shift control, operating targets, handover, and stable operation
- Process control and instrumentation from the manager's viewpoint
- Working with the mine on ore blending, feed changes, and hard-to-treat material
- Practical application: participants build a cost breakdown and a shift performance routine for a sample plant
Reliability, Maintenance, and Shutdowns
- Availability and utilization, and how each translates into lost metal
- Maintenance strategy and critical spares using ISO 55000 principles
- Planning major shutdowns: scope, contractors, readiness reviews, and restart
- Production and maintenance working as one team on priorities
- Safety management during shutdowns and contractor-heavy periods under ISO 45001
- Reliability measures, repeat failures, and the manager's role in root cause analysis
- Commissioning and ramp-up of new plants and how managers should oversee them
- Practical application: participants prepare a shutdown readiness review and a critical spares decision
Water, Tailings, People, and Improvement
- Water balance, energy use, and their growing weight in arid-region operations
- Management oversight of tailings under GISTM and environmental systems under ISO 14001
- Team structure, skills, shift supervisors, and technical development of national staff
- Improvement methods: loss analysis, trials, and proving the value of a change
- Capital upgrades compared with operating improvements, and how to decide what to fund first
- Regulator and community expectations on water use, discharge, and tailings performance
- Reporting plant performance to executives, boards, and regulators
- Final workshop: participants develop a plant improvement plan with priorities, owners, and value estimates
Upcoming Dates
Selected date
Istanbul · 18 – 22 Oct 2027 · Classroom
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| City | Dates | Price per Participant | Early Bird | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
BarcelonaScheduled | 2 – 6 Nov 2026 | €6,000 | — | |
BeirutScheduled | 8 – 12 Nov 2026 | €4,500 | — | |
BerlinScheduled | 16 – 20 Nov 2026 | €6,300 | — | |
CairoScheduled | 22 – 26 Nov 2026 | €3,800 | €3,420until 2 Nov | |
Cape TownScheduled | 23 – 27 Nov 2026 | €7,700 | €6,930until 2 Nov | |
CasablancaScheduled | 30 Nov – 4 Dec 2026 | €4,700 | €4,230until 9 Nov | |
DammamScheduled | 6 – 10 Dec 2026 | €4,800 | €4,320until 16 Nov | |
DohaScheduled | 6 – 10 Dec 2026 | €4,700 | €4,230until 16 Nov | |
DubaiScheduled | 13 – 17 Dec 2026 | €4,700 | €4,230until 23 Nov | |
ErbilScheduled | 20 – 24 Dec 2026 | €4,000 | €3,600until 30 Nov | |
GenevaScheduled | 21 – 25 Dec 2026 | €7,300 | €6,570until 30 Nov | |
IstanbulScheduled | 28 Dec 2026 – 1 Jan 2027 | €5,300 | €4,770until 7 Dec | |
JeddahScheduled | 3 – 7 Jan 2027 | €4,800 | €4,320until 14 Dec | |
Kuala LumpurScheduled | 4 – 8 Jan 2027 | €4,700 | €4,230until 14 Dec | |
LisbonScheduled | 11 – 15 Jan 2027 | €6,000 | €5,400until 21 Dec | |
LondonScheduled | 18 – 22 Jan 2027 | €5,800 | €5,220until 28 Dec | |
MadinahScheduled | 25 – 29 Jan 2027 | €4,800 | €4,320until 4 Jan | |
MadridScheduled | 25 – 29 Jan 2027 | €6,000 | €5,400until 4 Jan | |
MakkahScheduled | 1 – 5 Feb 2027 | €4,800 | €4,320until 11 Jan | |
ManamaScheduled | 8 – 12 Feb 2027 | €5,300 | €4,770until 18 Jan | |
MuscatScheduled | 8 – 12 Feb 2027 | €6,300 | €5,670until 18 Jan | |
OnlineScheduled | 14 – 18 Feb 2027 | €2,700 | €2,430until 25 Jan | |
RiyadhScheduled | 22 – 26 Feb 2027 | €4,800 | €4,320until 1 Feb | |
SingaporeScheduled | 22 – 26 Feb 2027 | €9,100 | €8,190until 1 Feb | |
AbujaScheduled | 1 – 5 Mar 2027 | €7,700 | €6,930until 8 Feb | |
AccraScheduled | 8 – 12 Mar 2027 | €7,700 | €6,930until 15 Feb | |
AmmanScheduled | 14 – 18 Mar 2027 | €4,000 | €3,600until 22 Feb | |
AmsterdamScheduled | 15 – 19 Mar 2027 | €6,000 | €5,400until 22 Feb | |
BakuScheduled | 22 – 26 Mar 2027 | €5,300 | €4,770until 1 Mar | |
BarcelonaScheduled | 29 Mar – 2 Apr 2027 | €6,000 | €5,400until 8 Mar | |
IstanbulScheduled | 18 – 22 Oct 2027 | €5,300 | €4,770until 27 Sept |
Available in: Istanbul · Dubai · London · Riyadh · Doha · Amsterdam
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