HEAVY ENGINEERING
“The lip itself boasts superior strength
increases over conventional plate lip installation
and removes excessive heat affected zones, sharp
transitions and uncontrolled weld stresses by
eliminating them,” he said.
“Finally, the design significantly reduces risks
associated with GET changeouts and improves
maintenance practices by removing requirements
for hot work on continual repair welds.”
There could be more products such as the
RE1522 on their way to the market from CR in the
next 12-18 months, according to Nienaber.
“In 2020, we plan to expand on our DecaEdge
range to accommodate the full range of wheel
loaders on mine sites,” he said, adding that the
first of these could be available in the December
quarter of this year.
The company is also working closely with one
of its customers on developing a lip for the 800 t
excavator market, which is still in the early
development stage, he added.
“Finally, we are also expecting to see our first
SaberEdge lip for the CAT7495 electric rope
shovels later this year,” Nienaber said.
GETting the right treatment
CR is not the only company looking to reduce the
risk associated with GET changeouts in the mining
industry, with Weir Group’s ESCO division currently
working on an innovative solution that automates
the process to help improve safety on mine sites.
In its 2019 annual report, released earlier this
year, Weir said the GET Toolhead ® would reduce
the need for maintenance personnel to be in the
pit, one of the most hazardous areas of a mine,
during these changeouts.
The new automated toolhead turns a hydraulic
manipulator into a robot arm, according to Weir,
allowing it to securely grip and move GET. This
transition could allow the robot arm to replace
parts weighing up to 500 kg, according to Weir.
“The movement of the toolhead is controlled
remotely by a single operator, compared to teams
of up to three people who would normally be
required for a manual change out,” the company
said.
While details were thin on the ground, Weir said
it was continuing to work towards commercialising
this offering.
ESCO is also working on rolling out its GET
Detect ® solution, which enables customers to
better monitor their GET in the field using digital
sensors, helping prevent costly unplanned
downtime when teeth become detached and enter
downstream processing operations.
This product came out of a partnership with
Australia’s CSIRO, with the initial release being for
its Nemisys ® Mining Lip System.
In the Nemisys instance, the lip components are
equipped with sensors that are monitored in real
time by two receiving antennae on the exterior of
the machine. In the event
of component loss, the
machine operator receives
an audible signal and a
visual indication on a
screen at what location the
component loss occurred.
Obstructions caused by
missing teeth like this are
extremely costly in
downstream processing
operations, with the
average incident resulting
in 12-24 hours of crusher A copper mine in the Coquimbo region of Chile
used LoaderMetrics to avoid the estimated
downtime, according to annual production loss of $1.25 million that the
Motion Metrics.
mine experienced prior to installing a missing
Therefore the company tooth detection system
devised a missing tooth
detection solution to prevent this downtime and operational continuity.”
improve safety at mine sites.
At another mine in the nearby Coquimbo region
“Having worked as an Engineering Manager at of Chile, the installation of LoaderMetrics has
a Canadian mine in the past, I can tell you that the helped to prevent an estimated $1.5 million
best way to manage the risk of an obstructed production loss.
crusher is to avoid the situation entirely,” Derek Like many hard-rock mines, this Chile-based
Cooper, VP of Sales and Operations at Motion copper producer experiences significant
Metrics, said. “Failing that, mines should aim to production loss from tooth breakage each year.
mitigate problems as early in the process as Between 2012 and 2015, the mine attributed 153
possible. Motion Metrics offers missing tooth hours of crusher downtime to obstructions – an
detection solutions for shovels and loaders to average of 51 hours per year.
quickly alert equipment operators to broken or To mitigate the impact from missing loader
missing teeth.”
teeth, the site installed LoaderMetrics on two
These solutions, ShovelMetrics and
loaders. Since installation, the mine has
LoaderMetrics, have been installed at more than experienced zero crusher downtime due to
60 mine sites across six continents. Using artificial missing loader teeth, according to Motion Metrics.
intelligence and either visible range or thermal The mine’s crushers process an average of
imaging, ShovelMetrics and LoaderMetrics work 5,000 t/h. If there is additional stockpiled material
24 hours a day to keep mine personnel safe and to provide ongoing operational support, an
minimise crusher downtime, according to the company. obstructed crusher may not immediately impact
Chile state-owned copper mining company operational continuity. But, if plant operations
Codelco uses ShovelMetrics at its Gabriela Mistral must be halted, the cost to the mine is around
division to detect missing shovel teeth, according $25,000/h, according to Motion Metrics.
to the company.
“Thus, the roughly 50 hours of yearly lost
The system has been well received at the production due to a preventable crusher
operation, according to Gustavo Córdova, Mine obstruction could cost the mine $1.25 million in
Manager at Gabriela Mistral.
lost production,” the company said.
In an English paraphrasing of a Spanish article Over the course of a year, the system detected
published by Codelco, he said: “The system takes 12 missing loader teeth and experienced zero
successive pictures and compares them to one crusher downtime – preventing the $1.25 million
another. Through this process, the system
annual production loss the mine would have
determines whether there is a missing tooth or if experienced prior to installing a missing tooth
any teeth have worn out and need to be changed; detection system, Motion Metrics explained.
using colour codes like a traffic light, the system Spain-based MTG has also come up with
alerts mine personnel so that they can act before protective systems for GET, with the latest being
the missing tooth enters the crushing circuit.” its new MTG SYSTEMS PROMET lip shroud
For Córdova, ShovelMetrics is an essential designed for 90 mm loader blades.
safety and productivity tool.
Coming in a series of 435 mm wide central and
“Faced with a crusher obstruction, an operator lateral elements with a delta angle of 15˚, it
must enter the crusher to solve the problem – at complements the existing PROMET loader lip
great risk to himself,” Córdova said. “Therefore, shroud sizes of 70 mm, 75 mm and 100 mm, the
we now solve two issues because we remove our company said.
people from the line of fire and maintain
“This expands our lip shroud size versatility as
38 International Mining | JUNE 2020