The Maintenance Paradox: Why Reliability Still Determines Mining EBITDA

Across the mining sector, revenues have stabilized—and in several commodities improved materially. Yet many operations continue to underperform on EBITDA. Comparable assets operating at similar volumes are often producing very different financial outcomes.

Why?

Because reliability-driven cost erosion remains embedded in day-to-day execution.

In this article, we examine how unplanned downtime, reactive maintenance, overtime recovery, and schedule instability quietly reduce profitability long before workforce reductions are considered. While maintenance metrics may appear under control on paper, variability inside the operating system continues to erode production stability, fixed-cost absorption, and margin performance.

Drawing on EFESO’s work across mining, metals, and minerals operations, this paper explores why reliability remains one of the most important—and underestimated—drivers of sustainable EBITDA improvement.

In this article:

• Why mining operations with similar assets and throughput deliver materially different EBITDA margins
• How reliability instability creates hidden operational and financial losses
• The warning signs that precede headcount-led cost reduction
• Why reactive maintenance and recovery work suppress productivity
• How leading organizations improve margins through execution discipline and operational stability

The paper also highlights how mining organizations that protect reliability as part of the operating system consistently outperform peers through improved equipment availability, lower unplanned downtime, stronger maintenance productivity, and more sustainable cost control.