Beware readers, there might be a problem.
A train is due to depart from a Pilbara mine site in the afternoon to deposit over 70,000 tonnes of iron ore to their coastal port. The conveyor system transferring the extracted iron ore from the site to the train, breaks down. It will take two days to repair.
How much will this delay cost the miner?
Answer: $15 million.
Any mining operation wants to avoid the above scenario. And while it is an extreme example, there are numerous circumstances in which a machine breakdown can have significant impact on an operation’s productivity and throughput, as well as implications from a safety perspective. Which is why a proactive maintenance strategy is essential to the modern mine.
This whitepaper discusses a suite of preventative maintenance solutions that the contemporary smart mine can adopt to ensure their machines are operating optimally at all times. Furthermore, it provides expert insights into the value of a proactive maintenance strategy and how tools such as thermal monitoring and imaging, air leak detectors, vibration measurement and onsite calibration can be applied to not only prevent downtime but uncover many hidden cost savings.