The head of the Mexico-based precious metals miner was among the leading mining executives interviewed for the "Mining Journal Global Leadership Report: Preparing for transformation" being published this month.

Alvídrez outlined a number of different fronts where the miner was looking to technology for "breakthrough changes" in the way it operated.

Among them, he said Fresnillo put forward its vision for technological change as a top-down approach, then engaged the younger generation to both challenge and enrich the vision.

"This is part of a bottom-up approach," he said.

"We have had some really positive surprises out of this process.

"I think we had missed before the opportunity to do this properly and only now are we formalising it."

Alvídrez, who was appointed to the role in August 2012, also described a fundamental aspect he said the mining industry needed to overcome.

This is based on an interview with Fresnillo CEO Octavio Alvídrezas part of the ‘Mining Journal Global Leadership Report: Preparing for transformation', which will be published in late June. The report features around 20 in-depth interviews with the industry's leading mining executives and the results of our industry-wide survey focused on transformational influences (technology, stakeholder engagement etc) and the readiness of mining leaders to meet these challenges.