Project Management Assignment: Recovery Plan For Nickelodeon Project

Question

Task:
Please see following Figure 1 for an overview of the Nickelodeon Project:

Figure 1. Conceptual Plan for Full Nickelodeon Project

Mine Site Description

• Located in a major river watershed.

• Altitude approximately 1,500m above sea level.

• Topography is a prominent plateau with undulating landscape dissected by valleys.

• Vegetation is grasslands with broadleaf understory and scattered deciduous trees providing intermittent canopy.

• Mean max and min temperatures are 26ºC and 16ºC.

• Precipitation ranges from 900-1400mm/yr averaging 1100mm/yr. Majority rainfall during the long rain season of March-May, and short rain season of October-December.

• The resource is a nickel-bearing disseminated and massive sulphide deposit intrusions into a metasedimentary rock. The current estimate of Indicated + Inferred Mineral Resource is 48M tons of nickel sulphide ore grading an average 2.7% Ni.

• The mine will have a 5yr ramp-up to 2.5Mtpy with a 20yr full production time frame, for a total of 25yrs.

• The mine will be an underground operation with a combination of blasthole stoping and cut and fill.

• The main shaft will be an 8.5m diameter 1100m deep concrete-lined production shaft.

• Includes one ventilation and two service/ventilation shafts.

• Mechanical refrigeration is planned for deeper mining levels.

• The mine will be mechanised with electric/hydraulic jumbos and longhole drills, bolting units, LHD’s and haulage trucks.

• Backfill of mined-out areas will be via hydraulically placed fill provided by a backfill plant located on the surface. The backfill materials will be a mixture of desulphurised process plant tailings, sand, milled mine waste, quarried rock, and appropriate binder.

• Ore to be processed in a conventional flotation concentrator producing up to 300,000 tonnes/yr nickel sulphide concentrate containing approximately 18% Ni. The concentrate will be shipped as filter cake in special-purpose top-loading containers shipped via road and/or railroad.

• Rough flotation tailings will undergo further flotation to reduce pyrrhotite content to permit partial use in the mine backfill.

• Final tailings will be deposited sub-aqueously in two disposal facilities, each with two cells. As a cell comes to the end of its life, it will be closed out with a dry cover to maintain water over the stored tailings to prevent oxidation and acid generation. Potential acid-generating waste rock will be co-deposited with the tailings.

• Power supplied by a power grid 250km from the site.

• Approximately 100km of existing roads from highway to the site are presently dirt tracks. These dirt tracks will be upgraded to create the mine’s access and security road that also handles transport trucks from mine to railroad.

• Fresh water will come from the river approximately 15km from the site. Water will be treated to the required specifications. Also, a small potable water system and supply will be provided.

Please see the following Figure 2 for a block flow schematic of the mining design:

Figure 2. Block Flow Diagram for Nickelodeon Mine Site

Mine Site Infrastructure Requirements

• Hoisting plant.

• Administrative offices including full IT hub.*

• Changing houses.

• Warehouse facility.*

• Fuel tank farm.*

• Emergency power plant.

• Maintenance facilities.*

• Backfill and concrete plants.*

• Water treatment plants.*

• Gatehouse.

• Medical clinic.

• Aerodrome – gravel strip suitable for Cessna Caravan, Kingair 200 or similar.*

• Accommodation facilities for mine staff on single status fly-in/fly-out status up to 1600 persons.*

• Temporary construction camp which uses tribal land currently in the ownership of elders of the local village.*

• Note * indicates infrastructure requirements which can be selected for Assessment Item 1.

Please see the following Figure 3 for an overview of the Nickelodeon mining site:

Figure 3. Conceptual Plan for Nickelodeon Mine Site

Offsite Requirements in both Kumahatata and Tejas

• Concentrate handling facilities at railroads to be operated by railroad authorities.

• Railroad receiving, concentrate, storage, and ship on-loading facilities at the export port.

• Ship off-loading, concentrate storage, and rail loading facilities at the import port.

Smelter Requirements

• Rail off-loading, and temporary storage.

• Smelter processing plant.

Shipping

• Commercial shipping will be used to transport the raw ore to Tejas.

Other Issues

Landowner Description

• Open grazing land with rural villages in regions.

• The local populace is nomadic following grazing herds.

• The current 100km of dirt tracks that access the mine site passes through two small and one large village. The large village is located nearest to the mine site at approximately 4km. Villages are located on natural waterway crossings. The upgraded road to the mine site must bypass all villages.

Key Regulatory Issues

• The mine is located in rolling terrain with open grasslands and tree-lined valleys. The area supports a large variety of wildlife.

• In addition to rural villages, some of the local populace are quite nomadic, following grazing animals.

• The Kumahatata National and Local Governments have only a small amount of experience with processes in place for the mining industry. Approval times could occur reasonably quickly but are undefined and uncertain.

Workforce Expectations

• Rural area with little skilled workforce, but with high expectations of work opportunities.

• The proposed location of the mine and related facilities encompasses areas which are regarded as sacred by the indigenous population.

Environmental Lobbies

• The project has already attracted the attention of international environmental groups who are likely to vigorously oppose any mining because of the enormous environmental damage caused by previous mining of the country’s uranium deposits.

• Recently, the nearby wilderness areas received World Heritage listing.

Recovery Plan

Early Morning Shock

Early this morning over coffee, your emerging consciousness is assailed by a call from the Deputy Chief Project Officer summoning you to an immediate meeting with the Chief Project Officer in the CEO’s office. The Deputy Chief Project Officer’s phone call was very short and somewhat cryptic. It was clear, however, from his voice that a dire situation is emerging. You pressed the Chief Project Officer for more information, but he refused to offer any and then cut the phone call short.

The New Flash

When you arrive at the meeting, you are guided very quickly into the CEO’s inner sanctum where you find the Chief Project Officer and the Deputy Chief Project Officer watching a replay of an earlier News Flash – the content is horrifying. A video copy of the News Flash is attached under Assessment/Assessment Item 3. 

CEO’s Meeting

Moments later a very harried CEO returns accompanied by the CFO. He has spend the last hour in a video conference with the Board of Directors as they discuss the emerging situation. The CEO welcomes you but quickly hands over to the CFO who hands out a copy of a brief that was prepared earlier that morning. She asks you to read it carefully. It not only confirms the content of the News Flash but reveals even more bad news. A copy of brief is also attached under Assessment/Assessment Item 3. 

The CFO briefly hand back to the CEO, who explains that Board of Directors will be announcing later this morning that the Chairperson and the CEO have resigned and that the CFO will be temporarily taking over as CEO. At this point the CEO leaves the office. The CFO reports that all directors were present at the Board meeting except for one director who chairs the company’s Audit and Risk Committee. That director’s whereabouts are presently unknown. The CFO comments no further but the implication is very clear.

The interim Chairperson and the interim CEO are schedule to make a public statement later in the morning. But before they do, they want you to draft in broad terms a programme recovery and critical communication plan which if approved will guide the company’s response over the following days.

Project Management Assignment Task

Your task is to prepare a programme recovery and critical communication plan based on the current information available. In broad terms, the plan should:

• analyse the overall situation, 

• identify and analyse possible response options,

• recommend specific courses of action, complete with justification of your proposal, and 

• identify associated roles and responsibilities.

Answer

Executive Summary

The chief project officer and related resources are observed while being guided through the CEO's inner sanctum. The project management assignment is built on the emergency as mentioned by the CEO and the CFO for the organisation. Therefore, this study will provide a detailed programme recovery plan with a supporting communication plan based on the current conditions for the organisation. This has been directed to the Board of Directors to gain a significant understanding of the same and provide a considerable advantage for the Board of Directors to battle similar future situations.

Introduction

It is essential to note that this report is directed to the board of directors related to the current news flashes. This has been prepared in response to the massive collapse of the dam in Indonesian West Irain. The dam was constructed by the Super Mining Co., a part of the "Nickelodeon Initiative” that is nearing its completion. However, the situation has unearthed the lack of proper response and recovery strategies by the company.

Analyse the overall situation

While addressing the situation, it is essential to note that there have been significant challenges associated with the "Nickelodeon Initiative.” The case was handled and commented on by the Kumahatata news that revolves around the massive dam collapse that housed toxic waste to nickel mining farms. The waste has been associated with the massive failure of the Samarco’s Fundao Dam in Brazil in 2015. However, analysis shows that this case is associated with flattening approximately three villages with their residents and farmlands. This speaks for the severity of the case and the need for an accurate recovery strategy.

Vanhoucke, De Bruyne & Moens (2021) and Chafy, Tidswell & Lane (2018) argue that all companies need to have accurate recovery and response strategies for unforeseeable situations. However, in this case, the Nickelodeon Mining Company has been left speechless based on the unexpected scenario. The position has also been held accountable to the Ministry of Environment and Mines across the country. Hence, some of the validation checks and the regulatory factors related to the case is highly debatable. Further analysis by the associates has been connected to the potential "bribes" as the cause. This could be associated with the idea that higher bribes to senior personnel have been related to executing plans and building the bam in an unregulated location. This maximised the possibility of a major accident. However, based on the idea that the “Nickelodeon Initiative" is nearing its completion, the local government had eliminated such claims. However, a suitable response had not been released by the Nickelodeonmining company. Further, aspects could be related to the retrospect that the construction company had not considered the local and cultural heritage that came through rail construction. Various questionable decisions were a significant factor for the risk and possibilities of corruption within the organisation.

Identifying and analysing possible response options

This study section is widely associated with building and placing possible response options for the caused issue. This includes the prospect of the dam collapse and the possibility of re-routing the rail to support and respect the tribal culture. This has been associated with the arguments of Wiewelhove et al., (2018) and Valenzuela et al., (2019) that promotes the need for specific response strategies as a medium of reliability and growth.

Recommended action with justification

Conus et al., (2019) and Altarriba-Bartes et al., (2021) argue while observing and showing some critical points regarding a response strategy. This could be further accounted with the varied opinions and incomprehensive view of the Nickelodeon Mining Company with relation to the“Nickelodeon Initiative.” This is further accounted with specific strategies that will work with the course of action and the reason to implement the same.

Associated roles and responsibilities

This section of the study has been proposed based on the critical arguments by Pan, Hu & Chu (2019) and Ma et al., (2020). The critical analysis shows the essentiality of specific roles and responsibilities with appropriate communication strategies that would be essential for addressing project standards and practices. This would be further associated with the elimination of corruption as identified in earlier stages of the analysis.

Conclusion

It can be safely summarised that Nickelodeon Mining Company and associated government bodies have been quality responsible for the issues. The issues include the collapse f the dam and the lack of response for planning the railways. Thus, the prepared communication plan with recovery plans could be addressed as the primary response to the situation. This has been directed to the Board of Directors for Nickelodeon Mining Company with the hopes for organisational growth and sustainability.

References

Altarriba-Bartes, A., Peña, J., Vicens-Bordas, J., Casals, M., Peirau, X., & Calleja-González, J. (2021). The use of recovery strategies by Spanish first division soccer teams: a cross-sectional survey. The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 49(3), 297-307. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Julio-Calleja-Gonzalez/publication/344203208_The_use_of_recovery_strategies_by_Spanish_first_divi
sion_soccer_teams_a_cross-sectional_survey/links/5f610702a6fdcc1164157c8b/The-use-of-recovery-strategies-by-Spanish-first-division-soccer-teams-a-cross-sectional-survey.pdf

Chafy, A., Tidswell, M., & Lane, C. (2018, April). Case study: project start-up for thickened graphite tailings, storage and water recovery strategies. Project management assignment In Proceedings of the 21st International Seminar on Paste and Thickened Tailings (pp. 531-544). Australian Centre for Geomechanics. https://papers.acg.uwa.edu.au/d/1805_46_Chafy/46_Chafy.pdf

Chrispim, M. C., Scholz, M., & Nolasco, M. A. (2019). Phosphorus recovery from municipal wastewater treatment: Critical review of challenges and opportunities for developing countries. Journal of environmental management, 248, 109268. https://www.academia.edu/download/66110641/Phosphorus_recovery_from_WWTP_Criti
cal_review_of_challenges_and_opportunities_for_developing_countries.pdf

Conus, P., Abrahamyan Empson, L., Codeluppi, Z., Baumann, P. S., Söderström, O., Söderström, D., & Golay, P. (2019). City avoidance in the early phase of psychosis: A neglected domain of assessment and a potential target for recovery strategies. Frontiers in psychiatry, 10, 342. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00342/full

Ma, D., Shlezinger, N., Huang, T., Liu, Y., & Eldar, Y. C. (2020). Joint radar-communication strategies for autonomous vehicles: Combining two key automotive technologies. IEEE signal processing magazine, 37(4), 85-97. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1909.01729

Pan, J. S., Hu, P., & Chu, S. C. (2019). Novel parallel heterogeneous meta-heuristic and its communication strategies for the prediction of wind power. Processes, 7(11), 845. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/7/11/845/pdf

Pasciucco, F., Pecorini, I., Di Gregorio, S., Pilato, F., & Iannelli, R. (2021). Recovery Strategies of Contaminated Marine Sediments: A Life Cycle Assessment. Sustainability, 13(15), 8520. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/15/8520/pdf

Valenzuela, V. P. B., Samarasekara, R. S. M., Kularathna, A. H. T., Perez, G., Norikazu, F., Crichton, R. N., ... & Esteban, M. (2019). Comparative analysis of tsunami recovery strategies in small communities in Japan and Chile. Geosciences, 9(1), 26. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/9/1/26/pdf

Vanhoucke, M., De Bruyne, M. J., & Moens, E. (2021). Project Recovery: Project Failures and How to Get Rid of them. The Journal of Modern Project Management, 9(1). https://www.journalmodernpm.com/index.php/jmpm/article/view/JMPM02611

Wiewelhove, T., Schneider, C., Döweling, A., Hanakam, F., Rasche, C., Meyer, T., ... & Ferrauti, A. (2018). Effects of different recovery strategies following a half-marathon on fatigue markers in recreational runners. PLoS One, 13(11), e0207313. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0207313