As noted in Mining Journal’s September 2015 article, “Creating value through breakthrough productivity,” mining companies rely heavily on service contractors to perform key activities—from blasting and equipment leasing to equipment maintenance and industrial surveillance (to name just a few). For instance, in copper mining, contractor and services costs constitute nearly a quarter of total mine-site costs. These costs have shown a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.3% over the past 15 years (figure 1, below).