MINE MAINTENANCE the ‘ lights on ’, they want to operate their equipment at maximum performance to deliver the much-needed throughput of all critical minerals .”
Optimising comminution equipment ’ s energy efficiency is also a key consideration for mining customers , helping them hit their sustainability targets .
The more equipment that comes into the Metrics and Metso Performance Center realm , the more powerful the analytics Metso can provide customers , according to Kasat .
“ As we will bring more and more of our equipment online and manage a large database of real-time information on the machine condition , we are able to provide benchmarking for our customers and all relevant LCS services to improve operations , performance , safety , availability , capacity , energy / water efficiency , etc ,” she told IM . “ This can bring the capability for the customer to de-risk their investment .”
The levels of digital services Metso offers varies widely , as Kasat made clear .
“ In foundational levels of digital services for condition monitoring , we have standard connectivity modules , critical condition alarms based on our thorough failure mode and effect analyses , reliability centred maintenance and proprietary algorithms and prescriptions for proactive actions ,” she said .
“ In advanced levels , we provide prescriptive maintenance which requires tight coordination and alignment with the customer ’ s team to intervene with inspection services and maintenance actions .
“ In even more advanced levels requiring equipment performance optimisation , we typically require process data in addition to equipment data which we then use for running performance simulations to recommend the right designs / materials of parts , for example .”
All three of these levels are representative of the company ’ s holistic approach to understanding customer challenges , according to Director of Process Optimization & Remote Services Sales Support Integrated Service Solutions , Mikko Koivunen .
“ This allows us to co-develop solutions for our client ’ s specific needs , with our solutions often combining several of our products and services in a LCS package ,” he said .
For example , in one crushing application , a customer was unable to achieve planned mill production targets , so wanted to change the primary gyratory crusher settings to produce smaller product without the additional wear that would normally come with such a shift .
Kasat said : “ The real-time data for the primary gyratory crusher was collected and fed from our Metrics platform to our simulation tools for chamber optimisation and the new chamber
design was optimised for smaller product . This was a great example of equipment data combined with our in-house simulation and optimisation tools for wear performance optimisation .”
FLSmidth to become equipment health provider
The operational context that mineral processing equipment currently operates in is placing even more emphasis on the need for effective digital monitoring solutions , according to FLSmidth ’ s Vice President of Digital Services , Rebecca Siwale .
The prevalence of low-grade orebodies is leading mining companies to process more material , which is leading to larger equipment operating with higher power needs . This is consequentially exposing this equipment to higher overloads and irregular peaks , and more dynamic loads , according to Siwale .
This has led the company to focus on the most exposed assets in the comminution circuit – the gyratory crushers and HPGRs included .
“ These two are the ones placed inside the ‘ eye of the cyclone ’,” Siwale told IM .
In the case of HPGRs , the company can highlight the newly developed Advanced Machine Protection System , or AMPS . This solution is currently being applied at one of the company ’ s key customer operations in Peru .
“ The AMPS system is the fruit of several years of our OEM expertise in reliability , root cause analysis , failure mode effects and criticality
��������� ����� ��������™� ������������� �������� ��������� ����� ���������������������������������������������������������� �������������������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������
��� ���������� ���� ����������������� ��� ����� ��������� ����������� ������������ ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ ��������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������������������������������������� ����� ����� ������ ���� ���� ������� ����� ����������� �������������������� ���� ����������������������������������������������������
�������������������������������������������������������������������������
����������������������������� ����������������������������� ����������������������������������
���������������������������
JANUARY 2024 | International Mining 37