Mining and Minerals

The mining industry is subject to a wide range of legal compliance requirements. It is known for its high risk of accidents and incidents, which can lead to loss of life, production and environmental damage.

Stringent maintenance practices are required to ensure that equipment is safe to operate. From a reporting perspective, it is vital to accurately capture the necessary steps to prove that maintenance tasks are correctly planned and executed and that the staff performing the work does so correctly. Without detailed proof that maintenance is performed meticulously, the engineering manager can stand at risk of disciplinary charges or legal action.

While mining houses mainly deploy their internal resources to maintain and operate their equipment, they also heavily rely on L3 contractors to do installations and perform maintenance work. Agreed standards and procedures with external parties are of the utmost importance to ensure safe work practices are performed, as the final responsibility for incidents remains with the dedicated safety officer.

An EAMS is essential to plan and manage maintenance work, enforce workflow, and highlight non-compliance. Work management apps, such as the On Key Field Engineering app, are crucial in managing work, getting responsible parties to sign off on work and performing inspections.

Although the final responsibility stops with the safety officer, asset risk management is the responsibility of everyone in the business. Pragma’s approach to risk management is first to sensitise parties directly involved in asset risks through training and then involve these individuals in developing the risk management framework. The result is a more inclusive and functional framework.  

The role of unskilled resources in causing accidents can never be underestimated. Pragma’s practical maintenance courses are geared to highlight the risks associated with maintenance and give them the tools and best practices to comply with regulations.

With stricter legislation and mining processes and equipment becoming more sophisticated, mining companies need more competent technical staff. 

There is a growing need for engineers and maintenance technicians such as qualified planners, schedulers and artisans to plan and oversee maintenance activities as well as business intelligence engineers. 

HSE legislation leaves no margin for error, and with economical pressure, there is no scope for project delays and downtime.

Automation and technology in mining operations require programmers and data analysts. Correctly interpreting data sets and advising on the next steps are closely associated with a proper understanding of maintenance and asset management.

Partnering with Pragma holds several resourcing benefits, as clients can gain access to skilled and knowledgeable resources for short-term advisory projects or long-term asset care service contracts. Our services also extend into the full scope of contractor management, where we manage L3 contractors on behalf of our clients.

Furthermore, Pragma’s Academy trains over 2500 learners per annum, equipping them with practical and relevant skills in asset management. We have developed several learning pathways to provide a recommended sequence of courses for a specific role, creating a self-directed approach to learning which encourages learners to take ownership of their learning and progressively build knowledge and proficiency in their jobs. It is also of great value to our clients for succession planning.

Standardising maintenance work processes in the mining industry can help ensure that equipment and facilities are adequately maintained, improve safety, and increase efficiency. There are several ways that companies can standardise maintenance work processes, including:

• Developing a preventive maintenance program: This involves scheduling regular maintenance tasks for equipment and facilities, such as inspections, routine servicing and condition monitoring to identify and address potential issues before they become major problems. Pragma’s asset health monitoring solution for critical assets uses IIoT technologies to monitor potential failures and send triggers to responsible parties to respond.
• Implementing a computerised maintenance management system (EAMS or CMMS).  On Key is such a best of breed system that allows companies to plan, track and manage maintenance work orders, spares, resources and other data in one central location. The addition of mobile work management applications that resources use at point of work improve efficiency and reduce errors.
• Establishing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for maintenance tasks involves creating written procedures for each type of maintenance task, which can help ensure that work is performed consistently and correctly. Pragma’s asset care plans are developed based on a thorough risk assessment to ensure that the correct tactics are applied.  Maintenance plans are captured in On Key, from where the frequency, tasks, spares and resources are managed. An extra benefit is that On Key’s superior asset register contains asset types which are set up as placeholders with specific maintenance plans per type.  This reduces work and errors as new assets are just linked to the asset type and inherit all the associated tasks.
• Creating a culture of continuous improvement involves regularly reviewing and evaluating maintenance processes and procedures, and making changes as needed to improve overall performance and safety. Pragma’s focused improvement business process follows a comprehensive methodology to identify the root cause of a recurring failure and provide the correct solution.

Standardising maintenance work processes can help companies to control costs better, improve equipment reliability, and ensure compliance with safety and environmental regulations.

Mining houses struggling with failing equipment should invest in a proper reliability engineering programme. Whereas maintenance management generally focuses on repairing broken equipment, reliability engineering focuses on critical equipment and optimising the performance of these assets. In essence, it helps identify the cause of a failure quickly and provides a proactive analysis to prevent future failures. Reliability engineering also helps reduce downtime and maintenance costs.

Reliability engineering in mining includes:

• Identifying and analysing potential failure modes of equipment and systems.
• Developing preventive maintenance plans to detect and correct potential issues before they become major problems.
• Implementing reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) to focus on the most critical equipment and systems.
• Using condition monitoring techniques such as vibration analysis, oil analysis, and thermography to detect and diagnose issues with equipment.
• Establishing performance metrics to track and measure equipment reliability over time.
• Root cause analysis of equipment failures to identify the underlying cause of problems and prevent similar failures from occurring.
• Implementing predictive maintenance techniques such as machine learning, real-time data analysis, and IoT sensor networks.

Reliability engineers form part of the scarce resources within mining. Pragma’s reliability engineering solutions range from providing full-time reliability engineers to execute a mine’s reliability engineering programme to consultation and coaching. A comprehensive reliability engineering learning pathway is also on offer to ensure that mines can enable their team members to manage and execute their reliability engineering programmes.

The lack of master data management is the cause of many a problem in mining. The engineering manager is in no position to trend any information or take informed decisions without accurate data that has been built up over time. Master data management is the process of collecting, consolidating, and maintaining accurate and consistent data about an organisation’s critical assets, such as equipment, facilities, and resources. In the mining industry, MDM is essential for maintaining and managing the large amounts of data generated by mining operations and maintenance activities.

Managing master data includes:

• Identifying and classifying the critical data required for maintenance and operations.
• Collecting, consolidating and validating data from various sources.
• Storing and managing data in a central repository.
• Ensuring the data is accurate, consistent and up-to-date.
• Implementing data governance to ensure data is controlled and access is restricted to authorised personnel.
• Utilising data analytics to extract insights and make data-driven decisions.
• An effective MDM system in mining maintenance can help companies to:
• Improve the efficiency and accuracy of maintenance activities by providing access to accurate, up-to-date data about equipment and facilities.
• Enhance the performance and reliability of equipment by providing real-time data for predictive maintenance.
• Improve compliance with safety and environmental regulations by providing accurate data for reporting.
• Reduce costs by reducing the need for multiple data sources and manual data entry.
• Overall, an MDM system is an essential tool for mining companies to effectively manage and utilise the large amounts of data generated by mining operations and maintenance activities.

Maintenance, engineering, and supply chain (stores) integration and communication are essential for ensuring that mining operations are running smoothly and efficiently. In terms of maintenance and engineering, effective communication and integration is necessary to ensure that maintenance and engineering teams have access to the parts, tools, and equipment they need to complete their work. This can be achieved through:

• Developing an inventory management system that allows maintenance and engineering teams to quickly and easily access the parts they need
• Implementing a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) which allows maintenance and engineering teams to track inventory levels and request parts as needed
• Establishing a regular communication and collaboration process between maintenance, engineering, and supply chain teams to ensure that parts and equipment are readily available and that any issues are quickly identified and addressed

In terms of supply chain, integration and communication with the store department is important to optimize the flow of materials and equipment and to ensure that necessary items are readily available. This can be achieved through:

• Implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to manage and track inventory levels, orders, and deliveries
• Establishing a regular communication and collaboration process between maintenance, engineering, and supply chain teams to ensure that parts and equipment are readily available and that any issues are quickly identified and addressed
• Developing a supplier management program to ensure that suppliers are meeting delivery and quality expectations.

Overall, effective maintenance, engineering, and supply chain (stores) integration and communication can help mining companies to improve equipment uptime, reduce maintenance costs, and improve safety by ensuring that parts, tools, and equipment are readily available and that any issues are quickly identified and addressed.