Mining Project Work Breakdown Structure
This is a practical guide to building a work breakdown structure for a mining project project — a deliverable-oriented decomposition of the whole scope into manageable work packages, adapted to the realities of developing a mine or mineral extraction operation.
What a Work Breakdown Structure is
A work breakdown structure is a deliverable-oriented decomposition of the whole scope into manageable work packages. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Work Breakdown Structure. On a mining project project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a Mining Project project
Mining Project projects live or die on developing a mine or mineral extraction operation. A well-built work breakdown structure gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how mining project projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Top-level deliverables
- Sub-deliverables
- Work packages (8–80 hours)
- WBS numbering
- WBS dictionary entries
Mining Project-specific considerations
Tailor the work breakdown structure to the risks that most often derail mining project projects:
- Environmental and community risk
- Geological uncertainty
- Remote-site logistics
Example
On a real mining project project, the work breakdown structure would be shaped by developing a mine or mineral extraction operation. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — environmental and community risk, geological uncertainty, remote-site logistics — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.