MINING TYRES
Jaye Young at Michelin commented:
“Customers continue to understand and see the
real value and productivity gains from tyre-
related services, such as tyre monitoring
technology. By providing a service like MEMS ® 4,
we give our customers a total solution – high
quality, high performing tyres coupled with a
complete monitoring system for tyres and site
conditions. This data in collaboration with our
customer engineering support and consultancy
empowers us to be better partners in improving a
customer’s overall productivity. Michelin was the
first to develop a TPMS for mining and the latest
generation, MEMS ® 4 is the most advanced
monitoring system on the market compared to
those offered by both tyre manufacturers and
technology providers. The number of trucks
worldwide equipped with MEMS is growing
rapidly, and we only see that number increasing
as the value of these services become more
apparent to more customers.”
After a little over a year on the market,
Michelin says MEMS ® 4 has helped customers
achieve considerable savings. For example, one
customer reported more than $500,000 saved
annually in production time thanks to better
pressure monitoring and real-time alerts. Better
monitoring allows mines to maximise tyre life
and reduce tyre consumption; a single customer
reported a savings of $730,000 annually.
“
MEMS ® 4 helps our customers strengthen safety
and productivity while decreasing maintenance
cost, increasing truck availability, and reducing
overall tyre budget.”
MEMS ® 4 measures tyre temperature and
pressure and uses GPS technology and
accelerometers to provide insight into the actual
mine conditions. Real-time alerts enable
dispatch and maintenance to react quickly to
potential issues. This flexible data platform also
includes the capability to host and report on
additional, future sensors, delivering value to our
customers over time.
Bridgestone’s Tim Netzel stated: “Today’s
mining customers are sophisticated and demand
every competitive advantage to improve
productivity and operate more efficiently. Tyre
monitoring and management systems play a
pivotal role in achieving this goal and helping to
maximise performance. Tyre monitoring systems
like B-TAG and PressureStat equip mine sites
with real-time data and analytics on tyre
pressure and temperature to make informed
decisions about tyre performance. This also
helps the mine identify trends and enables real-
time adjustments in operating conditions.”
In February 2019, Transense Technologies’
Translogik division won a contract, through its
Ghana partner WATS (West African Tyre
Services), to supply 41 iTrack II mining tyre
monitoring systems for haul trucks at Nordgold’s
50 International Mining | JULY 2019
In February 2019, Transense
Technologies’ Translogik division
won a contract, through its Ghana
partner WATS (West African Tyre
Services), to supply 41 iTrack II
mining tyre monitoring systems for
haul trucks at Nordgold’s Bissa
mine in Burkina Faso
Bissa mine in Burkina Faso. These systems are to
be supplied on a rental and service basis via
WATS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rana Motors
& Metal Works Engineering Co. Transense said:
“This method allows mining companies to Nordgold-owned mine in West Africa to our
growing list of iTrack users. WATS are a well-
established and highly regarded tyre service
provider in West Africa and with their depth of
contacts we are hopeful of an accelerated rate of
benefit from the productivity gains and overhead
savings provided by using the system without
any of the associated capital cost while providing
Translogik with a recurring revenue stream.”
The iTrack II system provides fast, accurate,
reliable real-time data on the condition of the
tyres, combined with live tracking of vehicle
location and status, according to Transense. “The
company’s 24/7 control room monitors the
pressures and temperatures live, and this
information can, for example, be used to ensure
tyres do not exceed critical heat thresholds,
detect incorrect load distributions, predict
suspension failures, eliminate manual tyre
pressure checks and much more.”
All of these benefits increase health and safety
as well as reducing maintenance and downtime,
which maximises the hours a truck is working
(on-road truck working hours), which directly
correlates to an increase in production, according
to Transense. Existing iTrack users have reported
increases in tyre life of up to 30% and fuel
savings of up to 3%, the company said.
Vibi Chandra, Director, Sales & Services
Director, OTR Tyres, WATS, said: “The
considerable advantages that Nordgold have
seen at their sister mine, SOMITA (Taparko),
where we installed iTrack in May 2018, have
persuaded Nordgold to adopt the system at
Bissa.
“As we have previously stated, West Africa is a
region with dozens of mines and hundreds of
haul trucks and it is our intention to introduce
our new enhanced service, including iTrack, to
our existing portfolio of mines as well as other
mines across the region.”
Graham Storey, CEO of Transense, said: “We
are very pleased to have added another adoption moving forward.”
Tyres & autonomous haul trucks
This is a fascinating part of today’s mining tyre
market. As more sites commit to autonomous
haulage trials or full implementation, and as the
practice of retrofitting autonomy onto existing
trucks grows, the focus is on what long term
autonomous operation really means for mining
tyres in terms of performance and type of wear
experienced. But getting real data from real sites
is difficult as anything relating to these
autonomous projects in terms of numbers is still
kept under wraps in most cases.
Cutler told IM: “While there is much
commentary about significant improvement to
tyre life – anywhere from 5-20% with
autonomous haul trucks – I am yet to see any
concrete evidence of this in practice. The promise
of improved tyre life with autonomous haul
trucks due to consistent and precise driving
behaviour sounds reasonable intuitively;
however, there are several factors that generally
conspire against this.”
One, every truck in an autonomous fleet
typically tracks precisely the same route when
operating on a specific haul cycle; this results in
road corner and intersection rutting – especially
on tight corners taken at high speed – causing
fatigue and impact damage to tyres, struts and
chassis. If a pothole forms in the tyre track
followed by an autonomous haul truck fleet, then
the tyre of every truck will hit that pothole on
each occasion that haul cycle is in operation.
Also the human operator is still better able to
react to changing road conditions. “A haul truck
driver will intuitively slow down for road dips and
depressions whereas an autonomous truck will