Why Time Really Is Money in Mining Recruitment
Introduction
In mining, time delays do not just inconvenience projects. They stall production, erode morale, and create costly downstream effects. Whether you are running a junior exploration outfit or managing billions in assets, the financial and operational cost of a vacancy adds up fast.
At Intelligenciia, we partner with internal hiring teams to extend their capabilities. We are not here to replace your HR or operations staff. We are here to save them time and help you secure the people you need. In its simplest form, we help you fill roles faster, avoid unnecessary delays, and free your managers to do what they do best.
What an Unfilled Role Really Costs
The true cost of leaving a role unfilled is rarely just the recruitment expense. Global research paints a clearer picture:
Estimates cited by Deloitte suggest that replacing an employee costs between 25 percent and 200 percent of their annual salary, depending on role complexity and seniority (1). For a role with a salary of $180,000, that equates to anywhere from $45,000 to $360,000 in turnover costs.
A study by Lightcast and Fiverr found that in advanced technical industries, an unfilled role can result in more than $42,000 in lost revenue each month (2).
Recruiting internally can cost $120,000 to $150,000 per year for each dedicated staff member when salaries, software, and overhead are included (3). That may make sense for organizations with large volume hiring, but for technical or occasional roles, external partners often deliver better value.
For mining companies, the daily cost of a vacancy in a site leadership, engineering, or metallurgical role regularly exceeds 1,000 dollars per day. That loss includes reduced output, project delays, contractor premiums, and increased stress on remaining staff.
The Hidden Impacts: More Than Just Dollars
Deloitte notes that the financial cost of turnover is only the beginning. The deeper impacts often go unnoticed but are just as damaging (1).
Customer relationships can suffer, especially in leadership, investor relations, and business development roles where continuity builds trust. When someone leaves unexpectedly, confidence can decline unless a new contact steps in quickly and effectively.
Critical knowledge can also be lost. In mining, operational insight and site familiarity take time to build. When more than one person exits in a short period, the effect compounds and slows everything from optimization to compliance.
Remaining team members often absorb the additional workload, leading to fatigue and a greater risk of burnout or further departures.
These impacts are not always visible in budgets, but they are felt across the organization. The longer a role stays open, the more these pressures grow.
A Hypothetical: When Does It Make Sense to Engage a Recruiter?
Imagine a mining company is looking to hire a technical manager for a remote operation. The role pays $180,000 per year and has been sitting vacant for three weeks. Here is how the math plays out:
Using the mid-range estimate of 50 percent of annual salary, the total cost of leaving the role vacant could be $90,000. Spread over a typical 70-day vacancy window, that works out to approximately $1,285 per day in unrealized value.
Assuming a 25 percent search fee, the recruitment cost would be $45,000.
At a loss of $1,285 per day, the role becomes more expensive to leave open than to fill after just 35 days.
In other words, if the role remains open longer than five weeks, the business has already lost more than it would have spent by engaging a recruitment partner early.
And this does not even account for:
The risk of losing your top candidate to a company that moves faster
The time your internal team spends screening and chasing leads
The broader cost of delayed work and overstretched teams
Why Hiring a Recruitment Firm Protects Your Bottom Line
Hiring a recruitment agency helps offset both the direct and indirect costs of turnover. It shortens the time to hire, which limits revenue loss and reduces pressure on your existing team. Reputable agencies also reduce the risk of poor hires by thoroughly benchmarking candidates for technical fit and cultural alignment. This protects long-term retention and avoids the cycle of re-recruitment.
By filling critical roles faster, agencies help preserve institutional knowledge and maintain the continuity of customer relationships and project delivery. They also prevent internal staff from being pulled into time-consuming hiring tasks, allowing them to focus on their core responsibilities.
All of this adds up to one outcome. Lower real costs, better hiring outcomes, and a faster return to full operational strength.
Where We Fit In
Our clients range in size from companies valued in the tens of millions to those worth tens of billions. Regardless of scale, they face the same challenge: filling critical roles quickly without overloading their internal teams.
We work alongside internal hiring functions to accelerate recruitment and improve outcomes.
Here is what that looks like:
Faster access to qualified passive candidates
Reduced project risk from prolonged vacancies
Lower burden on internal teams
Higher candidate quality through deeper networks and benchmarking
We help you fill the right roles, faster, with less stress and better long-term outcomes.
You Do What You Do Best. Let Us Handle the Rest.
Every day a key role stays vacant, your team pays the price. That price may show up in budgets, in project delays, or in turnover. You do not have to wait until the cost becomes visible to act.
If you are ready to hire, or want to talk through the business case, we would love to connect.
References
Where Did Our Employees Go?, Deloitte.
The Cost of Vacant Roles in High Skill Industries, Lightcast.
Recruitment Agencies versus In House Hiring: Cost Efficiency Breakdown, JoinPopp.
Cost Optimization Playbook, KPMG.
Human Capital Benchmarking Report, SHRM.
The True Cost of Unfilled Jobs, Factor Funding.