HEAVY ENGINEERING AND WEAR PARTS
• Simulating particle dynamics such as collisions, breakage and flow for a range of material types;
• Modelling and optimising equipment like mills, crushers, conveyors and screens to improve performance;
• Conducting wear analysis to predict and mitigate component degradation, ensuring longer equipment life; and
• Handling complex particle shapes, providing more accurate simulations for irregular materials.
Multotec says it employs advanced 3D laser scanning technology to accurately assess mill liner wear. This data-driven approach allows the company to create precise liner replacement schedules and estimate the remaining lifespan of the mill liners, ensuring efficient relining operations.
“ The 3D scanning is a service we provide to our customers for condition monitoring in various countries and across multiple commodities. In some cases, customers use similar scanners to perform the scans themselves,” Hollenstein says.“ They then send us the scan data, and we then interpret the results and generate detailed reports.”
Hollenstein concluded:“ When we work with customers, we don’ t simply sell them
mill liners. We take a more holistic approach by helping them to assess and identify any problem areas and work with the entire plant / milling circuit to resolve those issues. Through plant audits, we gain an understanding of the customer’ s operational constraints and where they want to improve their operations.”
WearVue is a patented colour-coded system that showcases the level of wear on a piece of equipment through visual“ indicators”. The three variants – green for“ good to go”, yellow for“ plan maintenance” and red for“ act now” – are easy to comprehend and can be observed visually by maintenance technicians.
Glenn Brearey, one of the two founders of the company( Mathew Rigby being the other), told IM:“ We have seen that the current wear measurement systems on the market are inaccessible to non-specialists and rely on expert interpretation.” This makes it difficult for those at the front line to make accurate assessments of wear with mainly sensorbased solutions.
On top of this system accessibility issue, the current maintenance status quo is putting these same workers in danger, with stress, fatigue and risk of injuries part and parcel of the normal inspection process.
According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 48 % of mining maintenance fatalities happen during inspections.
“ The industry needs a solution that eliminates the need for hazardous manual inspections, reducing the likelihood of human error and keeping workers out of the line of fire,” WearVue states in one of its promotional videos. This is where its solution comes in. Available as either pigmented plastics, epoxy / polyurethane resins, or embedded markers, these indicators
WearVue is a patented colour-coded system that showcases the level of wear on a piece of equipment through visual“ indicators” – green for“ good to go”, yellow for“ plan maintenance” and red for“ act now”
can show progressive wear over time, with a quoted accuracy of 0.1 mm.
“ We see this as a disruptive technology in the way that it has a very low entry point from a cost perspective, is scalable – you can progress from visual inspections through to AI-backed analysis – and is accessible for all,” Brearey said.“ These same indicators can be fluorescent too, meaning that analysis can take place any time.”
Brearey’ s disruption comment is also backed up by the numbers WearVue states in its technical document.
It achieved vendor status with BHP – the world’ s biggest miner – within three months of operation setup. Alongside this, it has established a partnership with Indigenous-owned company Maali Mechanical Services to help service these orders.
When IM spoke with the WearVue founders the pair were coming off their first indicator fitting – some 15-20 indicators on board a Komatsu 930E- 5 haul truck tray about to go into an operation owned by a Tier One miner. This was part of an order to install the WearVue indicators on four 930E-5 truck trays.
The company assessed wear patterns using site-issued wear rates and operational data to determine the optimal placement of these indicators, saying both the number of indicators used and position of said indicators varies from site to site.
The focus, for now, is on truck trays. The company also has renders for indicators fitted on heavy off-road tyres, wear plates and chutes, conveyor rollers and drive belts, and automotive braking systems in its technical document. Brearey and Rigby also talk up GET wear monitoring as another obvious area to expand into. All of these potential applications could come with reduced inventory holdings for mine sites, as well as help better align maintenance regimes with actual wear performance.
International Mining | JUNE 2025