The Timken Company has provided a predictive maintenance program to Robinson Nevada Mining Company (RNMC) that has helped the mine avoid several million dollars of unscheduled downtime since April 2006.
RNMC, a division of Quadra Mining Ltd., turned to Timken to provide condition monitoring and bearing maintenance training as well as bearing repair services for its Robinson Mine open pit copper and gold mine near Ely, Nev. Since the inception of Timken's training, RNMC technicians have been able to collect data on some of the mine's most critical bearing applications and identify problems before equipment has failed.
"Within two months of initiating our program, Timken helped us find impairments in two bearings that undetected could have caused catastrophic results," said Cary Brunson, mill maintenance general superintendent at Robinson Mine. "Without Timken's training and reliability services support, these two events alone could have cost us in excess of an estimated $3 million each in unscheduled downtime, labor and parts."
Robinson Mine operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and any unscheduled downtime means loss of mining opportunity. In both cases identified by RNMC, early detection of problems allowed maintenance planners to schedule repairs and order parts to prevent subsequent unplanned shutdown of the equipment.
Trip Kern, market manager for Timken's global mining business, said providing robust maintenance, repair and training services is an important and valued offering to mine operators. "The ability to help Robinson Mine make advanced diagnostic decisions to improve their operations reflects Timken's ability to be a friction management solutions provider," Kern said.
Timken offers a portfolio of condition monitoring solutions, including portable handheld devices, continuous monitoring devices, online systems and field reliability support services. Those support services range from vibration, infrared thermography and oil analysis to fan balancing, ultrasonic analysis and video-scope inspections.