The number of employees required to operate a continuous operation was
determined. The fixed and variable costs of the operation were separated,
generally along the lines of labour and stores components. Proprietary
`MicroPlanner' scheduling software was used to assess resource
utilisation under the constraints generated by seven-day operation to
determine the level of resources required and ensure that the maximum
use was being made of all resources. The mine economic model was used
to account for both the fixed and variable costs of the various task to
determine the cost and net revenue of the various scenarios. The analysis
indicated that mine output could be increased while reducing the unit
production cost. Several eight- and 12-hour, seven-day rosters were
sourced and ranked for their potential to improve production and
communication, and for their effect on employee health and lifestyle.