A mine plan is only one piece of the puzzle. Too often, we fall into the trap of using the mine plan as the basis for all decisions. But there are many other areas that inform the business strategy.
Today, I want to talk about:
- How to clarify the difference between a plan, a strategy, and execution.
- How tactical plans can hijack strategic goals.
- How to build vertical alignment across all stakeholders.
This is aimed at people and organizations who feel like they’re waiting for events to happen to them rather than actively seeking mitigations or those stuck in a constant state of reaction. If you’re always firefighting, always knee-jerk reacting, and rarely thinking outside that cycle, this is for you.
Strategy vs. Plan vs. Execution
Let’s start with three buckets; strategy, plan, execution.
Strategy is the North Star. It should be shared by everyone in the organization. It’s a handful of concrete statements about what you are actively working toward. Not fluffy website copy about “making sure everyone goes home safe.” Those are values, important, but different. Strategy is about what you’re implementing to move the business forward.
Plans, specifically tactical plans, are a subset of strategy. They contain additional detail: how the strategy will be implemented, actions, initiatives, milestones. They’re not daily operations, but they define what must happen to keep the strategy moving. Usually each department has its own plan, but they should all ladder back up to the same strategy.
Execution (or operational plans) is the day-to-day. It’s focused on carrying out the tactical plan. Execution ties to tactical, tactical ties to strategy.
Where do most planning conversations fall short? In the gap between defining strategy and defining tactical plans.
The Common Trap
Most companies I’ve worked with have detailed annual plans and what I’d call tactical plans. They also plan days, weeks, months—operational plans—against the budget. But too often, that tactical plan isn’t supporting any true strategy.
Maybe there’s a life-of-mine plan, but it’s not a business plan. It doesn’t address growth, permitting, or other long-term needs. Budget plans become half-baked tactical plans, detached from the big picture.
How Tactical Plans Hijack Strategic Goals
Instead of starting top-down with a vision of what the organization should look like, we start in the middle. We look at the tactical plan and ask: “What do we do next year?”
That’s where the “this is how we’ve always done it” mindset takes over. Next year becomes this year plus 5%. No real step-back. That approach hijacks strategic goals.
Strategic goals shouldn’t be impossible moonshots, but they should meaningfully move the business toward long-term success. If you don’t keep that perspective, reactive planning will dominate.
I wrote in Uncertainty Isn’t the Enemy about how firefighting pulls attention away from strategy. Say you get heavy rains and a flooded pit this season. Two years from now, that won’t be an issue. But reacting to it now by creating a “new strategy” around pit flooding? That’s short-term thinking, especially if your real strategy should have anticipated and mitigated that risk years earlier.
What Strategic Planning Really Means at a Mine
Strategic planning in mining is about how every function; operations, processing, maintenance, legal, government relations, interacts. You want to fit all the pieces together and cascade them down and back up the organization.
The strategy should answer:
- What’s the vision?
- What are the milestones?
- How do departments interact at key points?
Think of it like a 3-D plan:
- Layer 1 – Mine plan, process plan, maintenance plan, etc.
- Layer 2 – The connections between them (e.g., maintenance affecting truck productivity).
- Layer 3 – Cross-leadership alignment: strategic → tactical → operational.
Some connections are obvious; others (like permits to production rates) require deep strategic thinking. You can’t just assume a permit will be granted so you need that built into strategy.
Building Vertical Alignment
Just like there’s a planning hierarchy, there’s a management hierarchy:
- Senior leadership/executives
- Middle management/department leaders
- Functional leaders (day-to-day targets and goals)
Everyone should know the core strategy. If a haul truck driver doesn’t know they’re working at a gold mine—and why that matters—you have a problem. The strategy isn’t “drive a truck faster.” That’s an operational task.
Values are fixed; strategy is adaptable. It should evolve. Middle managers are key to bridging that gap by communicating shifts in strategy when short-term decisions are made so tactical plans stay aligned.
From Mine Planner to Strategic Thinker
A lot of planners build careers on technical mastery across a range including equipment allocation, cycle time calcs, block models, scripts. All important. But it rarely includes water requirements, lime use, community impact, tailings, or closure.
I’ve never seen one single integrated plan from geology through closure with all of that tied together. Planners can become strategic thinkers by:
- Stepping back to the 30,000-foot view.
- Picking one area outside their own (e.g., power, water, tailings) and aligning the mine plan with that department’s plan.
- Looking for disconnections. They’ll be there.
That’s how you start seeing both risks and opportunities beyond production tonnes or ounces.
Wrapping It Up
Strategy shouldn’t be complicated but it is complex. Translating vision into tactical and operational goals is the key to a successful organization.
If everyone in the organization truly understands the strategy—not just values—you unlock alignment. People start making the right trade-offs because they know what matters most.
Next time you start a planning exercise, ask:
What is this plan trying to accomplish?
Boil it down to three bullet points. If nothing’s changed from the last plan, then why are you doing it?
That’s how you start the real work of strategic mine planning.
