Modern Mining September 2017

PRODUCT News

Cutting maintenance budgets can prove costly

For the 300 ft area, the MCC was equipped with two 3 200 A incomers and a bus coupler, feeding a variety of DOL starters, feeders and large soft starters up to 315 kW. JBSS offered a full Siemens solution with Simocode Pro V intelli- gent overloads. Component selection complied with the 525 V, 50 kA, Type 2 co-ordination requirements of the plant. JBSS provided its ‘Eagle’ series panel in back-to-back configuration. The incom- ers were top entry, whilst all starters and feeders were bottom entry. Johan Basson, JB Switchgear, tel (+27 11) 027-5804 “An important advantage of dealing with a specialist OEM is that the inter- vention feeds the correct maintenance strategies into the plant’s management system, to ensure that the data is recorded and tracked for future reference,” he says. “It may also be necessary to upgrade or refurbish equipment so it can be returned to OEM standards – as there is no point in maintaining equipment that is not fit for purpose.” FLSmidth, tel (+27 10) 210-4820 is found that repairs or ancillary equip- ment – sometimes added after plant commissioning – is not suitable for the application, leading to inefficiencies in the plant’s functioning,” he notes. This assessment – focusing on the critical path equipment – leads to a plant upgrade programme which is jointly developed and is aligned to take the mine’s shutdown programme into account. Van Wyk acknowledges that savings can potentially be made where in-house maintenance systems grow over time into unmanageable, inappropriate or even unnecessary procedures – due to items and tasks being continuously added. This, he says, is why the review of the maintenance system forms part of the assessment.

dam via a pump station downstream. There are a total of six driers in the plant. In this instance, the MCCs for driers 4 and 5 are being replaced. The phosphate which is produced goes through the driers to remove excess moisture to achieve the correct level to meet customer require- ments. When the phosphate comes from the filter plant, the moisture level is typi- cally around 8 to 9 %. Once it has passed through the driers, the moisture content is reduced to around 1,5 to 2 %. of the mining sector, companies need to be careful not to slash plant maintenance budgets to the detriment of their opera- tions’ long-term health. “Pursuing short-term savings can be foolhardy if it undermines the ability of plant to generate value for the busi- ness,” says Wilhelm van Wyk, FLSmidth’s Manager Operation and Maintenance for Southern Africa. Appointing an external OEM contrac- tor can be the most cost-effective option, where the mine’s commitment to quality maintenance is held in place by a contrac- tual relationship with service agreement levels to manage these activities. “This means that performance targets, which have been preset between the mine and the contractor, must be met on an ongoing basis,” says Van Wyk. “This creates a relationship which is actually far more beneficial to the mine; the contractor has to meet certain parameters on a monthly basis, so it is not that easy for individuals on a plant to cut corners in the maintaining of equipment.” He says the OEM contractor’s engage- ment usually starts with an in-depth assessment or ‘plant health audit’ to assess the equipment in the plant, including inventory and spares. “Often it

While reducing costs during the economic downturn has been a harsh reality for most

Essential maintenance – replacing a head chute cover.

JB Switchgear supplies MCCs to Foskor Ekurhuleni-based JB Switchgear Solutions (JBSS) was recently awarded two contracts for the design, manufacture and supply of motor control centres (MCCs) destined for the ‘300 ft area’ and driers 4 and 5 at Foskor’s Phalaborwa operations.

Index to advertisers Allied Crane Hire 7 Atlas Copco Mining 2 B&E International OBC Barloworld Equipment OFC Canvass & Tent Manufacturing 45 Flexicon Africa FLSmidth Joy Global All the slurry from the plant comes into thickeners in the 300 ft area where the water is separated from the slurry. The water is then sent back into the plant for process requirements, whilst the left- over slurry is pumped into the tailings

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IFC

48  MODERN MINING  September 2017