Over a four-year partnership, Waterline supported Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi Mine with the delivery of close to 50,000 as-built and updated drawings across multiple project phases.
Oyu Tolgoi is not a static project—it is a multi-phase, high-volume, operationally complex mine with evolving infrastructure and ongoing development.
Rio Tinto required:
High-volume processing of as-built and updated drawings
Absolute alignment with engineering standards and compliance frameworks
Support across 181 distinct work areas
Responsiveness to changing release schedules and shifting project priorities
Continuity despite fluctuations in workload, team size, and project management structures
The real risk was not drafting volume. It was operational exposure. Inaccurate, delayed, or misaligned documentation in an operating mine introduces safety risk, compliance risk, and execution risk across capital and sustaining projects.
The challenge was maintaining control at scale, without creating bottlenecks or operational disruption.
Waterline embedded as a long-term drafting partner, absorbing complexity internally rather than transferring it to our client.
Key elements of the solution included:
1. Disciplined Drafting Governance
Structured workflows and quality assurance processes ensured consistent accuracy and compliance across all drawing packages.
2. Scalable Resourcing Model
Waterline managed fluctuations in workload and team composition internally, maintaining continuity regardless of changing demand.
3. Multi-Phase Project Support
Support extended across multiple project stages, with seamless handling of critical and non-critical documentation.
4. Owner’s Mindset Delivery
Rather than operating as a transactional service provider, Waterline aligned to operational outcomes, prioritising responsiveness, reliability, and sustained performance.
The result: complexity was managed within Waterline’s systems and processes, not pushed back into Rio Tinto’s operations.
Over four years, Waterline delivered:
Close to 50,000 as-built and updated drawings
Consistent compliance across 181 work areas
Zero operational disruption despite shifting priorities and workload variability
Sustained performance across multiple project phases
Most importantly, Rio Tinto maintained documentation integrity across a world-class asset, supporting safe operations, project execution, and long-term asset reliability.
Waterline was not simply a drafting provider. We became a continuity partner in one of the world’s most significant copper and gold mining operations.
“Waterline has been a trusted long-term drafting partner for Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi Mine, delivering close to 50,000 as-built and updated drawings over four years. Their owner’s mindset was evident in their disciplined drafting and QA processes, ensuring consistent accuracy across a complex, multi-phase project with changing priorities and workloads.
Waterline managed this complexity internally, maintaining continuity, flexibility, and quality without disruption to our operations. Their reliability and sustained performance have made them a valued partner on one of the world’s most significant copper and gold mining operations.”
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