In this column, Aldo Barreto—Founding Partner & Co-CEO of Unilink—reflects on the invisible operating costs generated by spot purchases in mining, and how these exceptions take up critical time for procurement teams. 

With more than 13 years leading Unilink and a previous career spanning 11 years at SAP Ariba and Quadrem, Aldo brings an expert perspective on the daily friction caused by exceptions outside the planned flow and their cumulative impact on operational efficiency. 

When normal flow is insufficient 

In previous posts, we saw that even in well-planned operations, there are always situations in which the normal supply flow is insufficient. When a material is not available in the warehouse or the usual supplier cannot respond, the requirement must be met directly in the market. 

These situations are part of everyday mining operations. 

The problem is not its existence. 

The problem is how they are managed. 

When a request deviates from the normal flow, the operational workload increases significantly. 

The supply team must: 

• Identify available suppliers 

• Request urgent quotes 

• Follow up on responses 

• Compare alternatives in no time 

• Coordinate commercial and logistical conditions 
• Ensure the purchase is completed 

Often, all of this occurs under operational pressure and with limited information about the available market. 

Small purchases, big effort 

From a monetary standpoint, these purchases are usually of low value. 

But managing it consumes: 

• Working hours of buyers and planners 

• Coordination between multiple areas 

• Intensive monitoring until delivery 

In many operations, the administrative cost and time spent resolving the exception can be comparable—or even greater—than the value of the material purchased. 

Furthermore, this type of situation introduces: 

• Interruptions in the team's planned work 

• Operational overload during critical periods 

• Dependence on known contacts or suppliers 

• Variability in response times 

An operational friction problem 

The challenge of spot sourcing is not the amount of purchases. 

It's in the operational friction they generate. 

Each exception implies: 

• Manual labor 

• Urgent processes 

• Low standardization 

• Poor visibility of the entire market 

In organizations with multiple operations, this friction is repeated every day. 

And it ends up taking up a significant portion of the teams' time on low-value operational tasks. 

Looking at the problem from a different perspective 

Exceptions are not isolated events. 

They are a permanent component of supply in complex operations. 

Therefore, the challenge is not just to resolve each case. 

The challenge is to reduce the operational effort involved in managing them. 

Because in mining, improving supply does not always mean optimizing the main flow. 

Often, the greatest impact is in reducing the burden generated by exceptions.