Transforming National Mining Corporations Through Strategic and Operational Excellence

A national mining corporation operating multiple large-scale assets across Saudi Arabia sought support to strengthen its long-term strategic planning, operational performance, and governance mechanisms. The corporation oversaw a diversified portfolio covering exploration, extraction, processing, logistics, and commercial distribution. As the national mining agenda expanded, the organization faced heightened expectations to enhance productivity, attract investment, and contribute to national value creation. The client required a more robust strategic framework to guide decision-making across business units, improve operational consistency, and align performance with national economic priorities.

We developed a comprehensive transformation strategy focused on strategic clarity, operational excellence, capability development, and governance enhancement. A unified corporate strategy was designed to guide portfolio decisions, clarify growth priorities, and support capital allocation. Operational excellence frameworks were implemented across assets, covering production planning, maintenance optimization, supply-chain coordination, and safety leadership. A corporate performance system was established to standardize KPIs, strengthen reporting, and improve accountability. We also introduced a capability-building blueprint covering technical skills, managerial effectiveness, and leadership development.

• Conducted a comprehensive diagnostic across exploration, mining, processing, and logistics operations to identify performance gaps and structural weaknesses affecting asset productivity.
• Developed a unified corporate strategy defining growth priorities, competitive positioning, sustainability ambitions, and national value creation targets.
• Designed an operational excellence program incorporating standardized processes for production planning, maintenance, cost control, and safety management across all sites.
• Established a corporate performance management framework with harmonized KPIs, reporting cycles, and governance mechanisms to enhance leadership visibility and decision-making effectiveness.
• Built a capability-development roadmap including technical training academies, leadership programs, and structured competency frameworks for operational and corporate roles.

• Institutionalize corporate strategy refresh cycles to ensure alignment with evolving national mining policies and global market dynamics.
• Mandate adoption of operational excellence standards across all assets, supported by cross-site audits and performance benchmarking.
• Strengthen internal project evaluation mechanisms with standardized feasibility, risk, and capital-efficiency criteria to guide investment decisions.
• Enhance data governance and digital systems to enable real-time performance monitoring and improve collaboration across business units.
• Expand partnerships with academic institutions and training centers to build a sustainable talent pipeline for the mining sector.

The transformation program delivered a 17% improvement in asset productivity, driven by standardized operational practices and improved planning discipline. Maintenance cost overruns were reduced by 22%, generating annual savings of approximately SAR 27.5 million. The new governance framework enhanced leadership visibility and accountability, reducing decision-making cycle time by 30%. Portfolio clarity improved capital allocation effectiveness, enabling the corporation to prioritize high-value projects and avoid an estimated SAR 14.8 million in misaligned investments.