Xstrata: Perseverance Mine NOVEMBER 09 www. bus- ex. com 11 Orbit Garant Drilling is one of the largest Canadian- based drilling companies providing both underground and surface drilling services in Canada and internationally. What sets Orbit Garant apart? It has the capability and the drilling equipment to meet any drilling challenge regardless of its nature. Orbit Garant's people and experience, at every level, make sure you achieve the success you want. For a drilling company that will listen, advise, and act in your best interests, call on Orbit Garant Drilling. Orbit Garant Drilling the end of the day, reduced costs. We constantly strive to improve on safety and quality, and by doing so, our costs are continuously going down." Xstrata embraced continuous improvement even during the construction phase at the mine, which makes use of a concentrator unit that was already used in early mining efforts in the area. Work began in August 2006 and was completed by July 2008- well ahead of the original schedule deadline of October. The project also came in within the CAN$ 160 million budget, despite soaring commodities costs. " Given the unprecedented rise in materials costs during the time we were building the mine, we had to find alternative ways to reduce costs to stay on budget." Although there were changes throughout the mine, a significant amount of the time and resource savings stemmed from improvements made by the underground mining team that reduced the amount of development necessary to bring the mine into production. The same approach, using the tools of six sigma, has been in place since production began, with some impressive improvements already recorded just a year into the mine's life, starting with a 16 percent increase in raw production. Originally, the output of the mine was forecast to top out at 2,600 tonnes per day, but Xstrata Zinc pushed that level to 2,800 tonnes without any significant changes to process, major capital investments or increases in headcount, but instead with process improvements from the underground mine itself through the concentrator and into maintenance. " It's all pure productivity improvement," Belleau says. " The nice thing about it is that it's sustainable. Our team