For mining companies trying to maximize stakeholder returns while delivering the material the world needs, the fundamentals of realizing the full potential of their ore bodies and assets haven’t changed.

Breakthrough technologies, such as automation and generative AI, present exciting opportunities for the sector and have understandably become a more urgent topic in boardrooms. However, the greatest operational value levers continue to be the less “sexy” elements, such as simply improving the way people work, honing strategy at the site level, and enacting targeted changes to get the most out of their assets. By improving on the fundamentals, global mining companies that we work with still regularly see production and efficiency gains of at least 15%, and often 20% to 30%, as well as safety and sustainability benefits.

Mining leaders know what delivers operational excellence. Bain recently asked a select group of executives from the industry’s largest and most respected companies to rank the factors most critical to a successful site-based improvement program. Together, these companies represent around $300 billion in market value (as of this writing) across a diverse range of bulk commodities, base metals, and precious metals. The individuals surveyed bring deep operational experience across site leadership, business improvement, and executive roles. Their responses weren’t all that surprising. Three tried-and-true ingredients rose to the top: buy-in across the organization; a strong understanding of what delivers value; and stable, capable leadership (see Figure 1). Most of the group also cited sufficient resourcing, effective management processes, and a sharp focus on a crucial short list of initiatives that pull the highest-value levers.

Figure 1

What is perhaps surprising is how consistently our survey respondents ranked technology as the least important factor. Clearly, executives recognize that technology can be a powerful enabler of operational improvements. But they also recognize that it shouldn’t be treated as a silver bullet and that its application must align with the operational strategy.

So, if industry leaders understand what’s required, why do many site-level improvement efforts fail? For one, there have been a lot of recent leadership changes within the sector causing disruptions that make it difficult to deliver on operational initiatives. If there isn’t sufficient buy-in (especially from the front line) or disciplined working routines and rhythms, then operational change becomes difficult to sustain. In some cases, operators don’t focus enough on the things that will deliver the most value. Efforts also tend to stall when there are too many priorities or unclear actions—a trap that frequently befalls mining companies.

Unlocking the full potential of mining operations is becoming even more important, especially as the sector ramps up capital expenditures in the coming years amid the global energy transition. Bain research has found that companies across industries with top-performing operational organizations deliver more than triple the profitable growth and total shareholder returns as their peers. As competition intensifies, mining companies that get operations right have a chance to significantly outperform the market.

In our work with mining companies worldwide, leading companies focus on three key objectives—namely, stabilizing the core operating model, optimizing operations, and sustaining results—to achieve operational excellence.

Stabilize the core operating model

To build high-performing operations, mining companies need a stable foundation at both the corporate and site levels. Too often, we see misalignment—for instance, strong site teams hamstrung by ineffective corporate operating models or a good central model that isn’t applied consistently across sites.

The best operators examine whether roles are clearly defined, especially between corporate teams and site leadership. They ensure business functions are set up to support frontline operations. They invest in attracting and retaining top talent, and they clarify decision rights so that teams can do their jobs confidently and consistently.

At the site level, leading miners put their strongest people in the most critical roles. They design efficient organizational structures that support performance. They run field-focused management routines that reinforce the business plan, and they implement visible metrics to foster accountability at every level. Above all, they pay close attention to frontline behaviors because that’s where strategy is realized.

Implementing these fundamentals enables safety, efficiency, and long-term performance. In a volatile, high-pressure industry such as mining, that stability becomes a competitive edge.

Optimize operations

The best operational excellence systems improve cash flow in the short term while lifting productivity and efficiency, ultimately increasing the mine’s long-term value. Leading mining companies do this through focused, methodical improvement efforts that are frontline owned and frontline led, supported by experts and technology. By defining the asset’s full potential and identifying key operational constraints and their underlying causes, the organization can develop solutions for the critical few priorities that will maximize value.

Breakthrough technologies, such as AI and advanced analytics, have an important role to play, but they only make a difference if they’re aimed at the right operational bottlenecks and root causes of lost value. When digital tools are deployed without a clear path to implementation and adoption (especially when resources are scarce), they rarely deliver on their promise.

Sustain results

Improving operations isn’t about periodic or one-time efforts; it’s about solving the right problems in the right order—and doing it in a way that sticks. That’s why the most successful mining companies treat continuous improvement as an ongoing capability, not a project with an end date.

It starts with a delivery model that’s agile, transparent, built for rapid decision making, and focused on outcomes—not simply checking boxes for process compliance. Top-performing sites build permanent routines for anticipating and mitigating risks as well as tracking progress and results, seeking evidence of effective delivery.

Strong, senior leadership is essential. This leader often reports directly to the general manager and is adept at creating productive tension with peers. Without a respected and knowledgeable leader at the helm, business improvement teams can get pulled in many directions, drift into administrative work, and lose sight of what creates value.

Because mines are constantly changing—for instance, constraints shift, teams turn over, macroeconomic disruptions hit—the best operators regularly step back to refresh priorities as results come in. They ensure that nothing is falling through the cracks, people and processes are staying sharp, and improvement efforts remain focused on the right things.

Creating real value

When a company does all these things well, it creates real, demonstrable value. For example, a global miner adopted a rigorous, disciplined approach to operational excellence across all its assets, built on a foundation of stable leadership and consistent communication and engagement from top to bottom.

The company established a single program for continuous improvement. Crucially, the sites were the driving force of the program, with each asset team taking responsibility for delivering on its priorities as well as the value at stake. At any point in time, the whole organization, from the CEO down to general managers and line managers, could articulate their top few priorities and the value they would create for the business.

As a result, across a period of more than seven years, the company delivered total shareholder returns that were more than four times greater than the performance of its closest peer and its relevant commodity index.

Basics plus breakthroughs equal operational excellence

The mining industry has an opportunity to combine traditional expertise and operating disciplines with new innovations. By laying solid groundwork to achieve bold breakthroughs, mining companies can face tomorrow’s challenges head-on and lead the sector to new heights.