Case Study: Leading Mining Company boosts silver recovery with Minitab

Digging Deep Mining Company Increases Silver Recovery with Lean Six Sigma

Leading Mining Company, the world’s largest primary silver producer and Mexico’s second-largest gold producer, needed to maximize silver recovery at its Zacatecas mine without compromising quality. The company turned to Minitab and its Statistical Software to help identify and reduce variation in a process where raw ore quality could not be controlled.

Using Lean Six Sigma methods, Design of Experiments, regression analysis, Gage R&R, and control charts in Minitab, the team optimized reagent settings and redesigned the mine’s distributed control system. Minitab helped the company increase silver recovery by 2%, lift monthly revenue by more than $2 million, reduce below-grade silver by 68%, cut silver waste by 29%, and lower reagent consumption by 12%.