MINE MAINTENANCE
Model maintenance
The AI hype has very much hit the mine maintenance sector, with companies now looking at defining real life case studies that provide value in the plant and at the mine site, Dan Gleeson reports
Mining has gone through its big data phase and is now looking for data that provides value at an operational site, or at group level.
The use of artificial intelligence( AI) will go some way to providing this value, potentially freeing up maintenance experts to carry out longer-term and strategic thinking around how to increase efficiency on site or in the plant.
Yet, the truth is that AI-based recommendations will get nowhere without required context.
IM spoke to some of the major OEMs and maintenance-based players in the sector to assess if the context is right for this type of decision making to take off.
Built with digital and mining expertise, the underlying platform continues to mature while remaining tightly aligned with evolving customer needs, Weir says. The introduction of AI-enabled algorithms, advanced wear detection techniques and robust cybersecurity protocols demonstrates how Weir’ s digital foundation is becoming more
Martin Engineering’ s Walk the Belt program is specifically designed for predictive maintenance
powerful and scalable each year.
Today, Weir can offer customers a portfolio of digital solutions that draw on the company’ s connected equipment, cloudbased analytics and expanding team of service technicians and data scientists.
Weir is also at the point where enough equipment warning and failure data, plus process optimisation information, has been generated and analysed to start detecting potential equipment adaptations that
Weir’ s out-of-the-box thinking
It is now over a year since Weir launched its rebranded NEXT intelligent solutions, offered as three value digital packages, marking a major milestone in its long-term digital transformation journey. Since then, the company has continued to evolve the platform and strengthen its digital service ecosystem, most notably through the recent partnership with Viking Analytics – a collaboration that enhances Weir’ s ability to deliver more accurate diagnostics, deeper insights and increasing maintenance support for customers.
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Weir applies detailed technical expertise and historical data to implement precise adjustments on physical equipment
International Mining | JANUARY 2026