For several years, spreadsheets have dominated mine planning, scheduling, budgeting, and forecasting as the primary tool in the industry. Mining teams of every size have successfully utilized spreadsheets, and they appreciate the flexibility. However, with the evolution of data-driven and complex mining operations, spreadsheets are no longer sufficient.
Most modern mines are generating substantial operational, geological, equipment, and production data daily. Inefficiencies, risks, and poor visibility across teams are introduced by using disconnected spreadsheets to manage modern data. To combat these issues, mining companies are moving towards using AI-based planning platforms that are faster, safer, and more accurate with the added benefit of smarter decisions and operational insights.
Using spreadsheets as the backbone of my planning continues to be a challenge despite their usefulness in simple calculations and ad hoc analyses.
Planning, engineering, and operational teams often span multiple departments and locations. When teams maintain separate versions of spreadsheets, inconsistent data is guaranteed. This results in poor communication, differing ideas, and planning that is expensive and fundamentally flawed.
Mining is an active and dynamic process. Failures of equipment, ore quality, the weather, and even changes in the market can all impact the daily production plans. Traditional spreadsheets are incapable of updating with the changing operational data and actively working to keep up with changing situational needs.
With the growth of the operation and the data it generates, spreadsheets grow too, and large spreadsheets become much more complex, slow, and error prone. Formulas, linked spreadsheets, and manual data entry done only to maintain the spreadsheets increase the operational risk.
Most spreadsheets operate separately and independently from many of the critical systems in mining such as fleet management, maintenance, geological, and plant monitoring.
This disconnects results in data silos and disrupts teams’ abilities to understand the operational picture holistically and make data-driven decisions.
Miniotec’s review states that planning through spreadsheets tends to bottleneck workflows. Large spreadsheets become time-consuming to open, save, and sync. Some large spreadsheets even crash the software they’re being used on.
Integrated planning systems have been adopted by some mining companies, and the measurable changes that have occurred demonstrate the benefits of these systems.
AI-based planning systems offer the ability to improve forecasts through continuous analysis of operational data. Mines utilize these improved forecasts to optimize their decisions regarding production and maintenance, as well as the allocation of resources.
A major advantage of modern planning systems is the ability to centralize planning and automate many of the manual tasks associated with managing spreadsheets. A forecasting system implemented by a mining company is stated to have cut their planning cycle times by 30% in a case study published by Keyrus.
With a digital planning system, every department has a single source of truth, which is particularly useful in viewing the cross-department objectives of Geology, Mine Ops, Processing, Maintenance, Finance, and beyond.
Digital planning systems help eliminate planning mistakes and inefficient use of resources by increasing accuracy and decreasing the manual handling of data. EY’s Mining industry planning research states that obsolete planning systems are a large contributor to project delays, budget overruns, and performance shortfalls.
Modern planning systems are disruptive in their ability to offer advanced analytics and AI and vastly improve the overall planning systems beyond merely replacing the use of spreadsheets in the planning systems.
Planning systems that are cloud-based enable all stakeholders to view the most up-to-date information, which eliminates the planning confusion caused by using outdated and disconnected files and workflows.
Mining companies can simulate numerous operational scenarios and anticipate the effects before making important decisions. They can forecast the availability of resources and the impacts of market fluctuations and analyze associated risks.
Artificial Intelligence can be used to assess and analyze scenarios that take into account various factors, e.g. ore grading, energy efficiency and maintenance schedules, trade-offs, and the optimal targets of production. All of this can be done much more quickly and accurately than the capabilities of manual planning.
Integrated systems of planning offer the flexibility and support that companies need to adjust and accommodate disruption.
Mining Technology reports on how the rapid growth of digital automation and Artificial Intelligence in the mining sector has been driven by increasing operational complexities.
The greater interconnection and data proliferation in mining poses serious challenges for the use of traditional spreadsheets. AI integrated planning solutions offer the requisite flexibility and frameworks to control the operations of a mining company.
The competitive advantages of enhanced forecasting and operational robustness gained using digital planning will accelerate the gap between innovators and adopters.
Moving away from planning by spreadsheets has a profound impact on the mining sector and how companies conduct business. Planning spreadsheets have a place for a minor analysis, but they lack the capabilities that modern mining requires.
AI planning solutions offer collaboration, optimization, and performance alignment that the industry needs.
At NTWIST, we disrupt the traditional planning methods in mining, offering integrated intelligent solutions.
As mining companies modernize operations, the limitations of the spreadsheet solutions, including the inability for real-time updates, difficulties with version control, and challenges with processing large amounts of data, have become more apparent. Modern mining operations utilize planning tools that are more accurate and automated with superior collaborative capabilities.
AI can analyze large sets of operational data, identify trends and patterns, predict a range of outcomes, and carry out optimization based on variables of target production, ore grade, and equipment and energy availability.
Spreadsheet mine planning systems lack flexibility and collaboration, integration, real-time updates, and poor scalability. As a result, the systems are difficult to use and maintain and lead to imprecise and costly forecasts.
Mine planning systems need to be integrated with real-time operational systems to provide collaborative forecasting and scenario modeling capabilities, and AI-based optimization.
AI can make mine planning systems more responsive to operational requirements, reduce the planning and optimization of mine operations, and as a result, reduce the costs of mining operations.
ReferencesMiniotec. (2024). Digital Transformation in the Mining Industry. Retrieved from Miniotec
EY. (2024). Unlocking Value in Mining Capital Projects. Retrieved from EY
Mining Technology. (2023). Charting the Evolution of Mining Software. Retrieved from Mining Technology
International Mining. (2025). Breaking Down Data Silos. Retrieved from International Mining
Keyrus. (2024). Streamlining Financial Planning in Mining. Retrieved from Keyrus