Context: In the Mining industry, plant availability is rarely lost because assets fail unexpectedly, it is lost when decisions meant to protect uptime arrive after conditions have already shifted.

Challenges: Load increases beyond safe margins, minor stoppages repeat, and maintenance deferrals accumulate, yet production continues against fixed plans while supervisors push output and maintenance waits for failure signals.

Solution: The Plant Availability Guidance Agent, an AI agent built using Microsoft Copilot Studio, monitors micro-stoppages and deferred maintenance exposure as stress signals emerge and intervenes during load and maintenance coordination decisions, flagging rising load variance before failure occurs.

Impact: Mining operators following this approach see interventions happen earlier and assets protected as conditions evolve, with output becoming predictable because decisions are made while availability can still be preserved.