Gupta secures SA iron ore approvals, could create EV hub

Two new iron ore mine leases have been granted in South Australia, in a boost to the local Whyalla steelworks. Sanjeev Gupta, the British industrialist and head of SIMEC Mining, has gained approval for two mines, Iron Sultan and Iron Warrior, which between them will support 56 permanent workers and 130 contractors.

Iron Sultan will create hematite iron ore suitable for use in the creation of magnetite at the Whyalla Plant that will help to lower steel costs for Gupta-owned GFG Alliance, while Iron Warrior is expected to export up to 1.5 million tonnes (Mt) of iron ore per annum.

Construction on both mines is expected to begin in early March. According to South Australia’s Mineral Resources Minister Tom Koutsantonis, the approvals demonstrated “the commitment of the new owner to develop its South Australian iron ore assets and create a more sustainable steelmaking business”.

The leases are the latest signs of GFG Alliance’s aggressive Australian expansion; earlier this month, SIMEC acquired the Tahoor mine in New South Wales from Glencore, and in September last yearcompleted the purchase of Arrium Group of Companies from KordaMentha Restructuring as part of GFG’s plans for vertical integration.

Perhaps most notable is Gupta’s recent interest in the Holden car plant in Elizabeth, SA, which closed down in October last year; the GFG head is a noted proponent of electric vehicle technology. Together, with GFG’s other recent purchases, the purchase of the plant could lead to the creation of a South Australian EV production hub.

“We are incredibly excited and supportive of the GFG Alliance’s bid and subsequent plans to ensure the continuation of our very proud history of automotive excellence and innovation in South Australia,” said Koutsantonis in a letter last week regarding Gupta’s potential purchase of the former GM Motors plant.

“We believe that the GFG Alliance’s plans would put South Australia at the forefront of the inevitable transition of the Australian market to electric vehicles and ask that all due consideration be given to their bid and the potentially significant benefits to the automotive industry and broader community in South Australia.”

FLSmidth SAGwise™ to revolutionise mill liner protection

Posted by Paul Moore on 12th January 2018

FLSmidth has just launched a new SAG mill liner protection solution called SAGwise™ total process control, with an estimate of less than six months ROI. It has been shown in tests that it can reduce damage to the liners by over 40%. FLSmidth told IM: “Extending the life and availability of mill liners is crucial. Weighing up to 4 t a piece, mill liners require a lot of effort to replace when they are worn out, and SAG mill downtime can be around $130,000/h, while lead times can span months. Overall it can cost well over $1 million dollars for a liner package.”

As stated, test results of the new product show reduced damage to the liners of 40% and an ROI of six months (without factoring in reduced unscheduled maintenance). Added this are reduced energy consumption of 6% – significant considering that mills use the by far largest amount of power required for minerals processing. The new solution also saw a production increase of 6% and reduced process variability up to 30%. The SAGwise™ total process control solution employs state of the art process control technologies to reduce critical impacts to the desired targets, stabilising and then optimising the operation of the SAG mill. Multiple process control technologies, such as model predictive control and fuzzy logic are embedded into the solution, modelling both the process and the human operators.

The system is based on acoustic sensors and proprietary process control software to predict and adjust the SAG mill operation according to impacts on the mill and other main process variables. King Becerra, FLSmidth Global Product Line Manager – Process Optimisation told IM: “There are eight audio sensors on a bidirectional mill, four on each side. These have embedded microphones that listen for so-called critical steel on steel impacts between balls and liners rather than between ore and liners. Today, plant operators rely on the personnel close to the SAG mill listening to the mill load and undesirable steel-on-steel impacts to manually adjust the SAG mill operation, reducing undesirable impacts, and run the mill smoothly. But the FLSmidth SAGwise™ system takes this digital audio data and uses techniques such as model predictive control and fuzzy logic rules to assess the mill process parameters.”

“Within seconds it has analysed the audio frequencies as well as taking on board power usage, mill weight and bearing pressure. It can then automatically take corrective action if needed and adjust parameters such as the mill ore feed rate, mill speed or water usage. Whereas an operator might make adjustments every few minutes, SAGwise™ can make more frequent (every 20 seconds or less) and less drastic adjustments.” The reduced damage improves mill availability and reduces downtime. “This can translate to literally multiple millions more tonnes of ore milled,” says FLSmidth.

Jack Meegan, FLSmidth Global Product Line Manager – Mill Liners and Wear Parts told IM: “We took technology that we already have and mated them together to make a solution. We can say to the customer, of course we want to sell you mill liners, but at the same time we want to make sure you are getting more value from your liners as well as your media. With many mines using $10 million or more of liners per year and three or four times this cost in terms of grinding media, the savings can be huge.”

The industries set to fly and fall in 2018

As Australian companies welcome the new year, IBISWorld reveals the top five industries expected to grow — and shrink — over coming months.

The top predicted performer for 2017-18 is the wind and other electricity generation industry, with a bumper year of 35.3% growth anticipated. IBISWorld anticipates that sports and recreation facilities operation, dairy cattle farming, petroleum exploration and nature reserves and conservation parks will round out the top five best performers.

At the top of the list of industries facing a less fortunate 12 months is the motor vehicle manufacturing industry, with revenue projected to decline by 43.1%. Other industries anticipated to face revenue declines include intellectual property leasing, outdoor vegetable growing, sugar manufacturing and concreting services.

Industries set to fly in 2018

Industries	Revenue 2016-17($ million)	Revenue 2017-18($ million)	Growth(%)
Wind and Other Electricity Generation	1,770.0	2,394.8	35.3%
Sports and Recreation Facilities Operation	1,453.6	1,588.2	9.3%
Dairy Cattle Farming	3,982.5	4,301.3	8.0%
Petroleum Exploration	1,399.1	1,499.3	7.2%
Nature Reserves and Conservation Parks	1,554.2	1,650.9	6.2%

Wind and other electricity generation

The closure of ageing coal-fired power stations, supply constraints and rising gas prices in the eastern states have all wreaked havoc on electricity markets over the past two years. The electricity service price is projected to increase significantly this financial year — especially in South Australia and Victoria, the country’s two largest producers of wind power.

“We’re predicting massive growth of over 35% for this industry, with renewable energy operators in Victoria and South Australia likely to take advantage of rising prices to boost their revenue,” states IBISWorld Senior Industry Analyst William McGregor.

Sports and recreation facilities operation

Revenue for this industry is expected to grow by 9.3% in 2017-18, to reach $1.6 billion. IBISWorld anticipates this year’s Gold Coast Commonwealth Games will play a huge part in boosting this sector with several new purpose-built facilities such as the Anna Meares Velodrome and Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre coming into play, alongside the redevelopment of a number of others, including the Optus Aquatic Centre and the Gold Coast Hockey Centre.

“We believe the availability of these stellar new facilities, together with ticket sales from these venues will be major contributors to industry growth. An expected rise in sports spectating and growing spend on recreational and cultural activities will also contribute to growth,” said Mr McGregor.

Dairy cattle farming

According to IBISWorld, this should be the year the dairy cattle farming industry bounces back. Following a year of low prices and depressed milk production, conditions have begun to stabilise, while demand and returns for domestic dairy products is rising.

“With the Australian dollar projected to depreciate this year, we anticipate local dairy products will become more competitive in export markets, boosting returns to domestic milk processors, which will then flow through to dairy cattle farmers. We’re also expecting an increase in the size of the national dairy cattle herd, which will drive up milk volumes, and contribute to an expected 8.0% increase in revenue in 2017-18,” said Mr McGregor.

Petroleum exploration

IBISWorld expects revenue in the petroleum exploration industry to increase by 7.2% in 2017-18, to reach $1.5 billion. This growth is expected on the back of three years of consecutive revenue declines, including a 53.0% drop in 2015-16, due to a decline in the global price of natural gas.

“As Australian households have had to compete with international consumers for gas supply, household gas prices have increased. This year, the electricity service price, a proxy for domestic natural gas prices, is tipped to surge by 15.4%, spurring renewed expenditure on petroleum exploration, which rose by 7.1% during the year to September 2017,” said Mr McGregor.

“A number of major petroleum production players have announced new budgets for exploration, including ExxonMobil, which has major investment plans for Bass Strait. There’s also a high likelihood growing pressure on the eastern seaboard energy market may prompt authorities to roll back regulation on coal seam gas extraction, which would lead to growth in petroleum exploration.”

Nature reserves and conservation parks

IBISWorld attributes rising revenue for this industry to growth in domestic and international tourism, which is increasing government funding for ecotourism activities.

“In addition, the relative weakness of the Australian dollar has increased the cost of holidaying overseas for Australians and decreased the cost of visiting Australia for foreigners — both of which benefit local ecotourism. We anticipate growth in admission fees, sales, and government funding to boost industry revenue by 6.2% this year, to reach $1.7 billion,” said Mr McGregor.

The industries set to fall in 2018

Industries	Revenue 2016-17($ million)	Revenue 2017-18($ million)	Growth(%)
Motor Vehicle Manufacturing	7,959.7	4,532.0	-43.1%
Intellectual Property Leasing	4,117.0	2,825.7	-31.4%
Outdoor Vegetable Growing	6,032.9	5,216.1	-13.5%
Sugar Manufacturing	3,411.5	2,985.7	-12.5%
Concreting Services	8,755.3	8,195.0	-6.4%

Motor vehicle manufacturing

The high comparative cost of Australian vehicle manufacturing, together with changing consumer preferences and increasing imports have had a devastating effect on local motor vehicle manufacturing, which is expected to decline by 43.1% this year.

With both GM Holden and Toyota closing their domestic manufacturing plants during 2017, truck manufacturers Volvo, PACCAR and Iveco are now the major players in the Australian industry.

“While truck manufacturers are affected by the same tough trading conditions as passenger car makers, there is an element of protection for those designing and building trucks specifically for Australian conditions, such as transporting heavy loads over long distances in high temperatures. With truck manufacturers now the key players in our domestic motor vehicle manufacturing sector, the industry’s future performance is set to rely more on business confidence than consumer sentiment in years to come,” said Mr McGregor.

Intellectual property leasing

Intellectual property leasing industry revenue has been extremely volatile in recent years due to the irregular auction of spectrum rights.

“The main bidders for spectrum rights in Australia are telcos, such as Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and TPG, with the latter purchasing rights for $1.26 billion in April 2017. This is expected to lead to a 31.4% decline in industry revenue in 2017-18, during which no spectrum auctions are expected to occur,” said Mr McGregor.

Outdoor vegetable growing

While the value of vegetables grown this year is predicted to increase slightly due to strong potato and onion output, the anticipated drop in domestic pulse production (chickpeas, peas, lentils, broad beans, lupins and mung beans) will hurt the industry’s overall performance, with revenue expected to decline by 13.5%.

Record pulse output in 2016-17 means that although this year’s production is still projected to be high, revenue will decline this year, with lower yields hurting pulse growers’ revenue.

Sugar manufacturing

An expected oversupply in global sugar markets is tipped to drive sugar prices down this year, with IBISWorld forecasting revenue for sugar manufacturers to decline by 12.5%.

“Domestic sugar output is projected to decline this year following the bumper crops of 2016-17, and with two-thirds of Australian sugar destined for export markets, global conditions — including consumption not matching production growth — will contribute to revenue declines for local sugar millers,” said Mr McGregor.

Concreting services

Weak demand from most infrastructure markets, coupled with an expected decline in residential building markets, will contribute to deteriorating conditions for concreting services in 2017-18, and cause revenue to decline by an estimated 6.4%.

“An oversupply in several major metropolitan markets and a slump in construction of large-scale apartment complexes will stem demand for concreting services in the residential sector for the time being, with the main stimulus this year coming from stronger demand from the commercial sector, as well as escalating activity on major transport projects including the WestConnex and NorthConnex in Sydney. While these projects will keep large-scale concreting firms busy, smaller operators are unlikely to benefit, because they lack the capital and workforce resources required to compete for these large projects,” said Mr McGregor.

For more information on this industries, visit the IBISWorld website.

Four predictions from tech giant IBM on the future of the Internet of Things in 2018

Despite some questionable uses (looking at you, smart toaster), the Internet of Things (IoT) has continued to be a strong area of development and innovation in the tech world. One only needs to look at the offering from this year’s Consumer Electronics Conference (CES) to see the widespread use of the technology.

More than 11 billion IoT devices are predicted to be in the world in 2018, and established companies and startups alike are looking to the tech to bring on further innovation. One of these businesses, Australian IoT startup Thinxtra, received $10 million in funding last year to develop its long-range IoT transmission hardware, which it’s aiming to implement in a range of industries and businesses.

Bret Greenstein, vice president of tech giant IBM’s Watson IoT Consumer Business division, recently spoke to Forbes about four key trends he could see changing the way IoT functions and integrates, operating mainly around its integration with other emerging technology.

Here’s what he thinks will be big in IoT over 2018.

1. AI will make it smarter

Artificial intelligence seems to be being thrown into pitch decks and innovation strategies left right and centre, so much so Cognitive Finance Group founder Clara Durodie told a panel last year her VC firm will be looking for investment in “real” AI, “not just for the sake of marketing or selling, and not just AI on a business plan”.

Integration with that sort of AI could see IoT systems better understanding humans and each other, says Greenstein, given developers start to understand how best to use it.

“In the early days you could do IoT in your home in a lot of different ways and there were a lot of wires and a lot of hard-code — mobile apps came later, but it was still an isolated experience that doesn’t really feel connected,” Greenstein told Forbes.

“AI is helping to bridge that gap — now we are seeing automakers and hotels and other companies trying to create more integrated experiences and using AI to better understand and interact with people.”

2. More power at the “edge”

Greenstein also predicts that front-facing parts of systems, such as cameras and microphones, will have more processing power pushed towards them and given more functionality.

“Suddenly there are cameras that can not only see, they can understand the image, and microphones which can listen — that’s increasingly being pushed to the edge,” he said.

This also cuts down on redundant data being sent back to the cloud, allowing systems to better process incoming information and leading to improved privacy for users. Greenstein explains using an example of a home security system detecting when residents are in danger:

“In this scenario, you might use cameras to tell if someone is recovering well, if their gait is normal or they are walking a little slower than they should be. But also you can pick up sounds like breaking glass, things falling or water spilling. And because the processing is done at the edge, we maintain privacy because nothing is sent to the cloud unless something bad happens,” he said.

3. Blockchain’s back, baby

Just in case you weren’t already inundated with buzzwords and new-concept business ideas, Greenstein claims blockchain’s immutable distributed ledger technology is well-suited to slot into IoT systems.

IBM currently runs its own blockchain solution through the Linux Foundation’s HyperLedger, which Greenstein says will have a number of partnerships to announce over 2018.

“What people missed about blockchain, because they were so focused on the financial side of things, which is the obvious use case, is that all of this IoT data, particularly in supply chains or where things move between owners, requires all of that data to be stored in some kind of unchangeable record,” he told Forbes.

4. Bright spots in manufacturing and industry

“There’s no question the industrial side of IoT is growing rapidly. [At first] everyone thought it was about the sensors — but we’re getting to the point where it’s the insights and interactions with people,” Greenstein said.

“In a way, it’s kind of supercharging manufacturing operators and people who do maintenance on machines by providing real-time data and real-time insights.”

Greenstein demonstrates the use of these insights through things like automated technical manuals being fed information from IoT systems and interpreted by AI.

“People ask a question — they don’t have to look through the manual anymore. They can ask their manual, ‘is this the right setting for the tyre pressure’,” he says.

Where are Australia’s major mining projects?

The number of committed mining and energy projects in Australia has increased by 21 per cent over the past year.

A rise in copper, gold, nickel and other minor commodity prospects has lifted the amount of overall committed projects to 47, according to the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science’s latest Resources and Energy Major Projects report.

Publicly announced projects (58), as well as projects moving to the feasibility stage (139), also increased over the past 12 months, in line with higher exploration expenditure and higher resource and energy commodity prices, the report added.

“While the past few years have been characterised by cutting costs to ensure the commercial viability of existing assets, 2017 has seen some renewed optimism for market conditions and increased producer interest in brownfield expansions and new projects,” the report explained.

Australia’s gold sector added several newly committed projects in 2017, including Dacian Gold’s Mt Morgans project in Western Australia, Gascoyne Resources’ Dalgaranga project in WA and Diversified Minerals’ Dargues Reef project in New South Wales.

Two copper projects were also approved — OZ Minerals’ Carrapateena project in South Australia and Capricorn Copper’s Mount Gordon project in Queensland.

Coal, meanwhile, has the highest number of committed projects amongst Australia’s key mining commodities with nine — all of which are in Queensland and NSW.

Location of projects at the committed stage. Source: Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (2017)

THE YEAR RENEWABLES BECAME MAINSTREAM

South Australia’s lithium-ion battery grabbed the headlines in 2017, first when Elon Musk announced he’d build the world’s largest battery in 100 days or it would be free, then again when he accomplished it, and yet again when the battery reacted to power surges in record time in December.

But the big battery is really just part of the ongoing renewable energy story of South Australia.

The year kicked off with the South Australian government launching the $550 million South Australian Energy Plan, which includes a $150 million Renewable Technology Fund that will provide $75 million in grants and $75 million in loans to help private companies and entrepreneurs develop eligible projects.

Musk’s now famous battery was one of the first projects to be funded, receiving $20 million to story the energy from the Hornsdale wind farm in South Australia’s Mid North, which is owned by French renewable company Neoen.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill announce the world’s largest battery at Hornsdale Wind Farm in the state’s Mid-North. Picture: Andre Castellucci/InDaily

Global energy companies have taken notice of South Australia’s leadership in renewables and began investing in the state in earnest in 2017.

In August Solar Reserve announced it would build a 150MW solar thermal in Port Augusta, incorporating eight hours of storage or 1100MWh, allowing it to operate like a conventional coal or gas power station.

Electricity retailer Snowy Hydro and Singapore-based renewable energy developer Equis will also build a 100 MW solar farm near Tailem Bend, 100 km southeast of Adelaide. Reach Solar currently have the 220 MW Bungala solar farm about 12km from Port Augusta under construction, with Origin Energy entering a power purchase agreement for the output of the project.

Lyon Group also plans to build a 330MW solar generation and 100MW battery storage system in the state’s Riverland.

Solar technology company Fluid Solar also unveiled its new head office in Adelaide this year, which will run completely on renewable energy, independent of the state’s power grid.

A field trial to develop highly efficient solar energy heliostats made from plastic opened in October, bringing togetherBottom of Form car parts manufacturer Precision Components and the University of South Australia

The concentrated solar research field in the northern suburbs of Adelaide includes 25 heliostats each measuring 7.2 square metre and a 16-metre-tall concentrated solar photo-voltaic (PV) receiver, which can generate about 30 kW of electricity per hour.

Find better ways to store South Australia’s abundant solar and wind energy was a theme throughout the year and in October the latest projects to benefit from the Renewable Technology Fund included a system to capture biogas from a wastewater treatment plant, store it as thermal energy and sell it to the electricity grid.

South Australian company 1414 Degrees has spent almost a decade developing its Thermal Energy Storage System (TESS) technology to store electricity as thermal energy by heating and melting containers full of silicon at a cost estimated to be up to 10 times cheaper than lithium batteries.

The wastewater treatment plant project will use $1.6 million in government funding to help build a 0.25MW/10MWh thermal energy storage device that holds heat generated from the combustion of biogas produced on site.

The Renewable Technology Fund has attracted more than 80 proposals for technologies that include batteries, bioenergy, pumped hydro, thermal, compressed air and hydrogen from companies around the world.

The year ended with the Australian researchers who successfully unboiled an egg turning their attention to capturing the energy of graphene oxide (GO) to make a more efficient alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

The Flinders University team has partnered with Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria, Australian Stock Exchange-listed First Graphene Ltd and manufacturer Kremford Pty Ltd to develop a GO-powered battery, a super-capacity energy storage alternative to emerging lithium-ion battery (LIB) technology.

2018年移动式破碎、筛分设备

QUARRY’S 2018 GUIDE TO MOBILE CRUSHERS AND SCREENS

This year’s edition of Quarry’s 2018 Guide to Mobile Crushers and Screens lists more than 300 mobile crushers and screens from 17 suppliers to the Australian quarrying market.

Welcome to the 2018 Guide to Mobile Crushers and Screens. This year’s edition is again divided into eight categories (e.g cones, jaws, incline screens, scalpers).

All equipment, irrespective of brand, has been sorted by maximum output (tonnes per hour) to enable readers to compare and contrast the capacities and capabilities of the machines. It’s a comprehensive format that seeks to highlight maximum performance!

This year the guide lists more than 300 mobile crushers and screens from 17 suppliers to the Australian quarrying market.

Some of the brands featured are popular and specialised multinational icons, eg Astec, Kleemann, McCloskey, Metso, Powerscreen, Sandvik and Terex. Other brands boast impressive international credentials but are perhaps lesser known to the Australian market (eg Keestrack, Superior Industries).

In addition, local manufacturers are increasingly developing new specialised equipment for the Australian market including Precisionscreen, Rocktec and Striker.

Buyers should be mindful of multiple distributors for some brands. The Terex Finlay range, for example, is distributed in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria by Finlay Crushing & Screening Systems. OPS Screening & Crushing Equipment handles Terex Finlay orders in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Therefore, when you are making inquiries about mobile equipment, be sure to contact the right distributor in your State or Territory!

As much as this guide strives to meticulously list all suppliers and brands, some are not featured, either because of obsolete, inaccurate information, or some distributors chose not to participate in the compilation of this book.

Finally, while I recommend you keep this guide close to your desks for easy reference, I encourage you to use it when you’re out of the office too. The beauty of technology today is that this guide is never too far from your fingertips.

When you are on the road, bookmark this page to view this guide on your laptop, smartphone or tablet.

Good luck with your purchases in 2018!

Damian Christie
Editor

READ NOW

Posted January 01, 2018

Metso and WEARX join forces to unlock potential

WEARX and the Metso Corporation recently finalised an agreement that will bring the two companies together.

The combined strengths of both companies and knowledge of their people is expected to bring even more value to the mineral processing and material transfer market sectors.

WEARX is a privately-owned wear solutions provider with a range of its own products. The company addresses its customer’s needs by implementing the right technologies to deliver wear protection solutions designed to exceed plant availability goals.

The company’s offer includes: wear liners, rubber and ceramic lining, skirting, chutes and bulk material handling equipment. Its services include: design, engineering, site services and project management.

WEARX chief executive officer and Metso’s senior vice president – Australian market areas addressed WEARX staff to explain the change at the company’s head office in Thornton, located on Australia’s east coast, 25km north-west of Newcastle.

Commenting on the reasoning behind the deal, WEARX CEO Gary Newman said, “Over the last few years, we have worked hard to develop WEARX into an agile service provider that delivers high value solutions to our customers.

“Our board and shareholders knew that at some stage we would need the backing of a much bigger company to unlock our full potential. With the funding of the next phase of our company’s growth in mind, we decided that a full trade sale to a large, likeminded company was the best way to continue the evolution of our business.”

“There were several interested parties, but when it came down to making our decision as to which company we wanted to move forward with, our key considerations were: cultural fit and clear synergies between the two companies.

“I’m very pleased to say, that we found an ideal fit in Metso. Joining forces with Metso is a historic step in our company’s development.”

Metso’s senior vice president for the Australian market areas – Ross Wotherspoon said there was an excellent cultural fit between the two companies.

“From our very first meetings with WEARX executives, I was impressed by their great culture which is very similar to ours,” he said.

This move is part of Metso’s growth strategy, which includes both organic growth, as well as growth through acquisition.

Wotherspoon said over the last seven years the company evolved its business through several powerful initiatives that have helped to improve service levels.

“We have agressively expanded our services footprint and committed to regularly measure and actively improve the satisfaction of both our customers and staff. In parallel to these initiatives, we have developed an acquisition strategy designed to broaden our offering and bring even more value to our customers,” Wotherspoon said.

“As for synergies, combining the strengths of our companies and knowledge of our people will allow us to bring even more value to our clients in the mineral processing and material transfer market sectors.

“We want to make sure that the transition goes smoothly, especially for staff and customers. The retention of WEARX’s agility and entrepreneurial spirit is a fundamental success factor.”

The companies have assembled a dedicated integration team which will now work on all aspects of the integration. It is expected that the group has around six months of intense work ahead.

Mining data to improve safety and cut maintenance costs

We have over 3,000 machines in our operations, from trucks the size of houses to shovels that move millions of tonnes of material every year. When equipment fails it can put our people at risk, disrupt production, increase costs and reduce our ability to provide resources to customers. So, maintenance is a priority, and we spend US$3.5 billion a year on the upkeep of our plants and equipment.

BHP has created the Maintenance Centre of Excellence to partner with our operations to deliver safe, sustainable improvement in our equipment performance. The Centre leverages BHP’s scale to draw on the deep expertise, data and systems we hold across our business to reduce cost, cut unplanned downtime, improve production and ensure our equipment is safe and reliable for our people.

Over the last 18 months we’ve formed a team of data scientists to examine how we can predict problems and improve the reliability and uptime of our equipment.

The team uses experience from outside the resources industry to find ways to improve our approach. For example, Boeing developed a tool that analyses real time black box data from aircrafts in-flight to predict what maintenance they’ll need when they land. This is used by airlines to prevent cancellations and ensure equipment is in the right place at the right time. We’re developing similar systems to improve BHP’s maintenance.

Our teams have developed algorithms that predict how a piece of equipment is likely to fail and when to best schedule preventative work.

We use over 780,000 different kinds of spare parts and our analysis can better inform how we buy them, preventing delays and unnecessary spending. The team is also working with our operations to determine how they best time routine maintenance to minimise disruption to production.

The results have been impressive. We analysed 5.6 million data points gathered from 20 shovels and identified how preventative maintenance could stop the risk of gantry and structure failures. The team also used data from 300 haul trucks to develop new maintenance strategies, improve supply chain management and set operating limits for how the vehicles are used in the field. This has improved availability and reduced costs by a projected 20 per cent across the remaining life of the fleet.

The number of variables that influence the performance of an individual piece of equipment made it very difficult to do this sort of analysis before these systems were developed. Operator behaviour, weather conditions, machine usage and maintenance history all affect how a truck or shovel performs. Maintenance plans used to be developed on a site-by-site basis. Now we can draw on data from across the company and update them more frequently.

The more data these systems are fed, the more they learn and the better performance becomes. BHP’s combination of large operations and standardised equipment, processes and technology are a critical advantage in the continuous improvement of their forecasts.

Of course, these systems are only as smart as the people that use them. As they become more common they will enable a step change in safety, equipment availability and performance.

Rio Tinto launches Far North Queensland recruitment drive

Rio Tinto is seeking more than 100 workers for a variety of roles at its bauxite operations in Far North Queensland.

A recruitment drive has been launched for positions at Rio’s existing Weipa mines at Andoon and East Weipa and the Amrun project south of the Embley River between Weipa and Aurukun.

Rio is aiming to build a workforce in the region capable of supporting the developing site at Amrun.

The Amrun project includes a range of infrastructure to support mining, including a processing plant and port near Boyd Bay, a dam, roads and tailings storage facility. A ferry terminal on Hey River will transport workers from Weipa to the mine.

Rio is seeking workers to fill positions for electrical and instrumentation technicians, operators, plant fitters and in maintenance.

The company said some Amrun roles would start immediately, while others would gradually take effect between 2018 and 2019. Rio is aiming to ship first bauxite from Amrun during the first quarter of 2019.

Rio Tinto Weipa Operations general manager Daniel van der Westhuizen said it was exciting for the company to offer so many roles that would ultimately support the bauxite operations.

“It’s an exciting time for our people, business and community with Amrun becoming a part of a strong and sustainable future for the region,” van der Westhuizen said.

Weipa will remain the residential base for the three mines in the region, with Andoom and East Weipa employees returning home after every shift, according to the miner.

Rio Tinto East Weipa superintendent and future Amrun employee Scott Tass said: “A couple of years ago when I heard the Amrun project was going ahead, I knew I had to start looking at making my way back to Weipa because I wanted to be part of it.

“Aside from moving the first bit of ore, I’m most looking forward to the facilities there. I’ve been in a number of camps and Amrun stands above the rest,” Tass said.

Rio roles in demand at Weipa:

Fixed plant operator maintainers
Heavy equipment personnel
Crew leader
Plant operators
Electrical maintainers/operators
Electrical maintainers
Heavy equipment fitters
Dozer and loader operators.