This article is part of our Golden State content series, based on the webinar “From Chaos to Clarity: Navigating Process Variability with Confidence.”
👉 Watch the full webinar here to explore how leading sites are tackling variability with smarter thinking and real-time decision support.
What’s your Golden State? Defining operational excellence in 2026
In mineral processing, every site is different; different ore bodies, different constraints, different teams. But one thing is consistent across the industry in 2026: the need for clarity, alignment, and confidence in decision-making.
This article explores how metallurgists and operations superintendents are using Golden State to define and achieve their own version of operational excellence – their “Golden State.”
What does operational excellence look like in 2026?
For some sites, it’s stable recovery above 90%.
For others, it’s maximum throughput, reduced reagent use, improved energy efficiency, or fewer unplanned shutdowns.
But no matter the metric, operational excellence starts with being able to answer a few key questions:
- Do we know what “good” looks like for our plant?
- Can everyone on the team see the same version of reality?
- Are we making decisions based on data or gut feel?
- Are our meetings driving improvement, or just reporting issues?
Mipac’s Golden State application helps teams answer these questions, and act on them.
How Golden State helps you define “good”
Golden State, part of Mipac’s MPA suite, is a real-time decision support tool that visualises process outcomes and their contributing drivers.
It helps teams:
- Establish clear performance targets
- Detect deviations early
- Understand cause-and-effect relationships
- Align across departments and shifts
By making process behaviour visible and contextualised, Golden State turns abstract goals into actionable insights.
From vision to execution
Defining your Golden State isn’t just a strategic exercise – it’s a practical one.
With Golden State, metallurgists and operations leaders can:
- Build a shared understanding of what matters most
- Standardise how performance is measured and discussed
- Empower operators to take ownership of outcomes
- Track progress toward site-specific goals
It’s not about chasing perfection; it’s about building a system that supports continuous improvement.
Why this matters in 2026
With increasing pressure to maximise throughput, improve recovery, reduce costs, and do more with less, sites can’t afford to wait for problems to escalate.
Golden State helps teams:
- Stay aligned across shifts
- Focus on what matters most
- Allocate resources to maximise value
- Make faster, smarter decisions
- Build a culture of proactive performance
It’s not just about software; it’s about changing the way teams work together.
Real-time feedback, real results
Golden State integrates with AVEVA PI AF and other plant data sources to provide a live, contextualised view of performance. This allows teams to:
- See how today’s decisions affect tomorrow’s outcomes
- Identify patterns and trends across shifts
- Prioritise actions based on impact, not instinct
In 2026, this kind of visibility is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s essential for staying competitive.
Define your Golden State
Your Golden State is the version of your plant where:
- Everyone is aligned on what “good” looks like
- Operators are empowered to act, not just react
- Data drives decisions
- Meetings are forward-looking and focused on improvement
Golden State helps you get there.
Ready to define operational excellence for your site?
If you’re ready to move from variability to clarity and define what success looks like for your team; Golden State can help.
