Eduardo Coloma

CEO Maptek

Maptek CEO Eduardo Coloma began working for Maptek 27 years ago in sales and technical support services in South America. He then moved to Perth, Western Australia in 2012 as Sales Manager for the Western Australian region, Mine Planning Business Manager and Evolution Global Product Manager. Eduardo has knowledge and experience in optimisation, mine design and scheduling especially for open pit metalliferous deposits. He holds a Civil, Industrial and Mining Engineering degree from the University of Antofagasta, Chile and completed an Executive MBA at Adolfo Ibáñez University in 2008.

Presentation title:

Institutional Memory: Remembering why decisions were made

Presentation synopsis:

Mining companies model the orebody in remarkable detail. But we rarely capture the reasoning behind our most important decisions. When assumptions change - or experienced geoscientists and planners move on - we can reproduce the geological model and the schedule, but not the reasoning that shaped them. That gap leads to slow approvals, repeated debates, and plans that no longer reflect reality. Institutional Memory is about preserving the “why” and the “how” behind major decisions - the assumptions, trade-offs, and risks - so plans can adapt as conditions change. Because in mining, the orebody remembers everything. The question is: do we?

This presentation introduces a decision-focused approach to institutional memory, where decisions are captured as structured records linked to the evidence, assumptions, people involved, and outcomes. Instead of treating decisions as something hidden within workflows, this approach makes them visible and traceable. This creates a clear record of how and why decisions were made. We argue that the real gap in current mining systems is not more data, but better capture of decisions. Making decisions easier to review and revisit can reduce delays, improve alignment between teams, and support learning over time.

To make this practical, we will present a simulated case study showing how decisions are made, challenged, and revisited over the life of a mining project. It highlights common issues such as changing assumptions, poor data quality, and loss of context when people move on. The case also shows how capturing decisions more clearly can improve how teams respond to change, reduce repeated work, and support better outcomes.