Author: Mr. Jean Marais, Founder & Group Executive Chairman
Sanodea Group. Rooted in Africa. Driven by Innovation. Built for Global Impact.
Presence: Africa, Europe, Middle East, Asia, North America
Over more than 30 years of leading mining operations and transformation programs across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, I have seen the same underlying challenge — great strategies collapsing under poor integration.
Across continents and commodities, even well-capitalised mines struggle to translate plans into predictable results. They produce detailed production forecasts, cost models, and maintenance schedules, yet fall short because their systems, people, and financial cadence are disconnected.
In this feature, I unpack Sanodea Group’s Integrated Planning Framework — a disciplined model that synchronises Production Strategy, Services Strategy, the Operating Master Schedule (OMS), and the Set Expenditure Schedule (SES) into one cohesive architecture for operational excellence.
This is not another management theory. It is a practical blueprint for how mines can build reliability, accountability, and foresight directly into the way they plan and perform.
Executive Summary: Why Integration Defines Performance
Mines fail not from lack of ore, talent, or intent — but from fragmentation.
When the Production Strategy, Services Strategy, OMS, and SES run on parallel tracks, leadership loses visibility, data becomes reactive, and operational governance weakens.
Sanodea’s framework solves this by introducing a single management rhythm that unites planning, execution, and expenditure under one discipline of integration.
In operations where this model has been deployed, the outcomes have been measurable:
- Up to 30% reduction in variance between plan and actual.
- 15–20% improvement in equipment uptime through services alignment.
- Transparent expenditure phasing with traceable OPEX–CAPEX accountability.
- Greater investor confidence through demonstrable performance integrity.
Integration, simply put, turns operational planning into a leadership system.
Chapter 1: The Integration Gap — Where Strategy Fails
In every mining operation I’ve led or advised, the same pattern emerges:
- Production plans exist in isolation from service schedules.
- Maintenance windows conflict with project activities.
- Expenditure approvals lag behind operational timing.
- Financial data trails execution by weeks.
This gap between intent and implementation is the single biggest destroyer of value. It erodes trust between departments, slows response time, and blinds management to true performance.
Sanodea’s Integrated Planning Architecture closes this gap by embedding collaboration into process design, aligning people, data, and accountability in real time.
Chapter 2: The Sanodea Integrated Planning Framework
Figure 1: The Sanodea Integrated Planning Framework (IPF).
The Discipline of Integration unfolds through four interconnected layers:
1. Production Strategy — The Anchor of Performance
Defines the “what” and “why.” Aligns ore body sequencing, equipment allocation, and production targets with business objectives.
Sanodea’s Approach: link technical planning directly with cost control and risk forecasting (for example weather conditions, crises planning, etc).
2. Services Strategy — The Enabler of Reliability
Ensures logistics, maintenance, and utilities are planned with foresight, not reactivity.
Integrate service delivery cycles with OMS cadence to guarantee operational continuity.
3. Operating Master Schedule (OMS) — The Execution Engine
Provides a unified view of activities — operations, maintenance, projects, and shutdowns — with dependencies visible and conflicts resolved.
4. Set Expenditure Schedule (SES) — The Fiscal Backbone
Aligns every activity with financial rhythm. SES governance ensures capital and operating expenditures are phased, tracked, and verified against the OMS in real time.
Together, these form a closed-loop system where every plan is executable, every cost is traceable, and every leader is accountable.
Chapter 3: Integration in Practice — Leadership as the Catalyst
Technology alone doesn’t integrate a mine — leadership cadence does.
Sanodea trains executive teams to treat planning as a discipline of behaviour. We facilitate cross-functional governance sessions where operations, maintenance, finance, and ESG leaders align priorities, constraints, and deliverables.
“Integration is not about systems — it’s about leadership rhythm.”
— Mr. Jean Marais
Through this structured cadence, decisions become transparent, teams stay aligned, and accountability shifts from reporting to ownership.
Chapter 4: Case Example — Integrated Planning in Action
(Anonymised case example to demonstrate practical relevance and impact)
A mid-tier gold mine in West Africa suffered chronic misalignment between production and expenditure schedules. Projects were delayed, maintenance budgets overspent, and variance between plan and actual exceeded 20%.
Sanodea deployed its Integrated Planning Framework, connecting the OMS to SES governance and introducing weekly leadership synchronisation. Within 12 months:
- Planning variance dropped to under 5%.
- Unplanned downtime reduced by 25%.
- CAPEX utilisation improved by 18%.
- Investor reporting cycles shortened by 40%.
The mine is now using the framework group-wide as part of its governance system.
Chapter 5: explore. Engage. EVOLVE. — Turning Integration into Culture
Sanodea’s principle — explore. Engage. EVOLVE. — defines how integration matures into institutional culture.
- explore. Identify the disconnections across functions and data systems.
- Engage. Bring leadership together under one planning rhythm.
- EVOLVE. Embed integration as a measurable, repeatable discipline across the organisation.
This evolution transforms planning from a once-a-month exercise into a living system of foresight and performance.
Chapter 6: Strategic Value for Stakeholders
- For Operators: improved reliability, lower variance, higher throughput.
- For Investors: predictable returns, disciplined expenditure, transparent governance.
- For Governments: consistent royalty flows, ESG accountability, and stability.
- For Communities: greater employment security and safer, uninterrupted operations.
Integration builds the institutional resilience Africa’s mining future demands.
In Conclusion
The mines that will lead Africa’s next growth frontier are not the largest or the fastest — they are the most integrated.
When strategy, services, operations, and finance speak one language, performance becomes predictable, governance becomes credible, and value becomes sustainable.
That is the Discipline of Integration.
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explore. Engage. EVOLVE.
References
- Deloitte. Integrated Mine Planning and Performance Management. Deloitte Global, 2024.
- IFC. Operational Planning and Governance in Extractive Industries. World Bank Group, 2023.
- KPMG. Planning Maturity and Value Realisation in African Mining. KPMG International, 2024.
- Marais, J.Y. Strategic Notes on Planning Discipline and Systems Integration. Sanodea Group, 2025.
- Sanodea Group. Integrated Planning Architecture — OMS & SES Framework Summary. Internal, 2025.
- World Bank. Africa’s Mining Modernisation and Value Chain Alignment. World Bank, 2024.
