Category: Wear Parts & Repair

Graphene may still be a new material, but it’s already taken the mining world by storm, thanks to innovative players like newGen Group. newGen has recently delivered trial results showing graphene-enhanced wear liners have lifetimes that are six times longer than their standard counterparts. Wear liners are an essential component of steel fabricated mining equipment, providing a resilient and sacrificial layer to protect the steel from abrasion wear during ore handling operations. This protective layer invariably deteriorates over time and with repeated use, leading them to be replaced periodically. As in any maintenance work on a mine site, finding ways to increase the time between replacements maximises throughput at the mine, reduces downtime and saves money. It was this desire...

Wear parts are on the front line at mine sites to extract, excavate and move material and they also need to protect the primary asset being used for material handling. If the quality of the steel that goes into the parts is inferior, and if the casting process is not completed to a high standard, they will wear out sooner. This not only leads to higher maintenance costs through the need to replace wear parts more regularly. It also blows a giant hole in the budget by failing to protect the main asset such as the parent bucket, which will also need to be replaced sooner. Lower quality wear parts also lead to more resistance, and therefore lost productivity, when...

Optimised mill throughput is one of the most significant areas of operation on a working mine site. Ensuring that ore is being crushed and ground to size and passed through as efficiently as possible is as critical as minimising costly downtime required for relining. It’s all about tonnes per hour, but there are some new smart ways to achieve more total throughput, monitor the condition of the mill’s wear lining to maintain steady flow and also increase safety when it comes time to reline. Safety First Bradken has been manufacturing and installing consumable liners for SAG and Ball mills for many years, but that journey has seen the company constantly develop new technology to help its customers increase profitability and...

It’s no secret that wear and tear directly impacts a component’s performance. In most mining applications, major mechanisms of wear include a combination of heat (eg. deformation) and friction (eg. abrasion), as well as various chemical processes (e.g. corrosion), which can result in compromised component geometry as well as rough surfaces that hinder smooth operation and eventually lead to failure. Over the years various technologies have been invented and implemented in an attempt to reduce wear and increase component life – after all, preventative maintenance is far less costly than purchasing a new component outright. Those technologies generally involve installing a protective barrier between the component and the cause of wear: this can be in the form of hardened physical...

Australia is the creative hub for many exciting innovations in the mining industry and the new Wear Asset Monitoring (WAM) system from Alloy Steel International (ASI) is a perfect example of local ingenuity. Real-Time Wear Plate Condition Monitoring The use of wear plate to protect chutes, conveyors, truck bodies and dozens of other vulnerable areas that are in constant contact with abrasive ores or slurries is standard practice across the mining industry.  Just like sacrificial anodes, these hard steel or ceramic shields take a beating to keep plants in operation and the mine in production. However, when these wear surfaces need replacing, the cost of a shut down to repair or replace them is significant.  The cost of an unplanned...

TYPICALLY, it begins with a phone call or email early in the morning, even before Tony Ferencakovic has time to open up shop. Such is the popularity and reputation of his custom fabrication company, Tony’s Engineering, that he has become first port of call for firms looking for that urgent or necessary modification. Australian Mining Review spoke to Tony about his WA-based business, which provides product development, fabrication and repair services to the mining and construction industries in Perth and across Australia & overseas. Water tanks While Tony’s Engineering specialises in producing, rebuilding and repairing items such as loader blades, excavator buckets, face shovel buckets, dozer blades, and excavator booms, the demand is particularly strong for customised water tanks and...

A LEADER in a highly specialised steel product manufacturing field, Bisalloy Steels owes its success in the Australian mining industry to the benefits of local knowledge, imbued with a successful combination of resilience and formability. Established in 1980, Bisalloy Steels is Australia's only manufacturer of high-tensile and abrasion-resistant quenched and tempered steel plate. With its heritage firmly grounded in the critical mining and manufacturing sectors, the company provides its highly sort-after products to a range of markets including defence, energy, mineral processing, structural engineering, and transport. Within the mining sector, the company’s Bisalloy Wear steel plates find use in a broad range of products including demolition and ground engaging tools, earthmoving buckets, drag line buckets, wear plates, chutes, dump truck...

ESTABLISHED in 1999, Rubbertex has consistently delivered superior surface protection solutions for steel structures to clients across mining and heavy industry sectors, throughout Australia and for remote overseas operations. Rubbertex director Stephen Cotton said the company’s key personnel had more than 70 years of combined knowledge and experience in providing protective coating solutions for chemical, corrosion, abrasion and impact issues and concerns. “Rubbertex has the ability to provide customised service with extensive problem-solving capabilities, rapid response and vast experience with protective coating solutions including rubber lining, ceramic tiling, sand blasting and painting services,” Mr Cotton said. “We are the acknowledged foremost authority in South Australia with the use of rubber for abrasion, impact and corrosion resistance.” Rubbertex has ongoing shutdown...

ENDURACLAD International is an Australian-based company with an ISO 9001 Certified workshop facility located in WA, along with a large fabrication workshop in Queensland. The company manufactures liner plates used to protect mining equipment, with a distinct advantage of being able to produce overlay liners up to 50mm in overlay thickness. Enduraclad founder and managing director Jason Kell said this advantage was a world first for bulk manufactured overlay, giving customers a product that lasts longer than expected and reducing costly shutdowns. “Unlike other companies who supply similar products, Enduraclad is manufacturing all its overlay liners in Australia and has facilities to supply the finished product to the client. “We are a ‘one stop shop’ where the customer’s solution can...

BUCKET components have to cope with a lot of wear and tear, unexpected shocks, jolts, bangs, nicks and jabs, costing expensive repairs and hours of downtime. The extreme properties of Hardox allow manufacturers to make buckets that can stand up to these types of wear. Hardox Wearparts wear services manager Stuart Sephton said that in some cases, it was even possible to double or triple the service life of bucket components. “This is because Hardox has a relative flat hardness curve, which means the wear is spread evenly throughout the entire steel thickness, and not only on the surface,” he said. “Its high toughness is also very important because it allows for use in cold environments.” These durable wear characteristics...

A LEADER in a highly specialised steel product manufacturing field, Bisalloy Steels owes its success in the Australian mining industry to the benefits of local knowledge, along with the right combination of resilience and formability. Established in 1980, Bisalloy Steels is Australia's only manufacturer of high-tensile and abrasion-resistant quenched and tempered steel plate. With its heritage firmly grounded in the critical mining and manufacturing sectors, the company also now provides its highly sort-after products to a range of markets including defence, energy, mineral processing, structural engineering, and transport. Within the mining sector, the company’s BISALLOY Wear steel plates find use in a broad range of products, including demolition tools, ground engaging tools, earthmoving buckets, drag line buckets, wear plates, chutes,...