Nearly every component in a mining or metals plant is subject to wear and tear, and so in addition to daily maintenance tasks, plants have scheduled shutdown periods. On a mine site, maintenance or replacement activities are regularly needed for chutes, crusher screens, conveyor systems or other large items of equipment specific to the mineral being processed. Any component with moving parts has a finite lifespan. In metal plants, everything right up to the blast furnaces needs to be changed when its working lifecycle ends.
We have extensive experience working alongside mining and metals clients to proactively manage the maintenance and replacement cycles of parts and machinery. Our teams regularly carry out a complete series of lifts, or transport large components through congested sites, to support these projects. Decades of regular maintenance support for a range of mining and metalwork facilities has enabled us to continually improve maintenance processes in these industries.
We have extensive experience working alongside mining and metals clients to proactively manage the maintenance and replacement cycles of parts and machinery.
Our operators and engineers understand that safely carrying out a turnaround in the shortest time possible, with minimal impact to ongoing production, brings valuable productivity gains for our customers. Ongoing support, through long term contracts or maintenance service agreements, has enabled us to develop long-standing relationships with many of our clients. This brings the additional value of a maintenance partner with extensive site and procedure-specific knowledge.
In addition to planned shutdowns and turnarounds, emergency repairs or replacements are sometimes necessary. For those events we can swiftly mobilize expertize and equipment from our global pool, designing solutions for a safe, fast recovery to ensure production resumes as quickly as possible.
Whatever the circumstances, we will always seek to find the optimal solution for every maintenance or shutdown operation. For example, we might have a project using two 100-ton cranes, located at two different points on the facility, to carry out a number of lifts. During the turnaround project we may identify that it would be possible to use a single 300-ton crane to carry out all the required lifts from one point, leading to greater efficiencies. Having half the crew and one piece of equipment in one location can be more cost-effective for the client. If it’s proven to be a better solution, it’s what we’ll implement for the next shutdown.
Improvements come from continually challenging existing processes and operational methods. By carefully evaluating each shutdown we can improve processes and optimize equipment utilization to reduce the cost burden and, more importantly, downtime of the plant. These are the kind of productivity improvements Mammoet brings to the table.
