Amidst challenging economic conditions, mining companies are constantly exploring ways to improve mechanical efficiency in order to prolong the life of their equipment and bring down energy costs. Tribology, the study of the interaction between moving surfaces, including friction, is an important tool to help them achieve this.
Lubrication Engineers (LE) South Africa MD, Colin Ford, says that: “On a mine, everything from wire ropes to conveyor belts, gear boxes and milling equipment can be run optimally when the right lubrication is applied in the correct quantities and at the right intervals.”
Tribology is integral to the work that LE does to help create these optimal conditions, and the company spends significant time with clients to identify and solve lubrication issues that are hampering performance.
Reducing their environmental impact and combatting loadshedding
When components run smoothly, they require less energy, and this can have a positive impact on running costs for a mine. With South Africa’s extensive loadshedding challenges, reducing energy consumption on site is an important aspect of demand management when mines are exploring alternative power solutions.
In addition to helping mitigate the impact of loadshedding, increased energy efficiency contributes to reducing mines’ environmental impact as lower energy demands have a positive knock-on environmental effect.
Ford says that advanced lubricants, while often costing more up front, also have immense benefits over time as they need to be applied less frequently, which helps to reduce a company’s carbon footprint as lower overall quantities are required.
Assessing return on investment
Economic constraints also prompt mining companies to keep a close eye on return on investment (ROI) across all operational areas. When it comes to lubrication, Ford says that high-quality lubricants can positively impact ROI and many clients have seen the effect of this on their equipment and their running costs.
“At a major platinum producer, they used one of our open gear lubricants on their mine and, although the per-barrel cost was higher than their previous lubricant, because they were using so much less of it the total cost saving was over R2 million a year,” says Ford.
He adds that in another instance, a gold mine that used an advanced lubricant from LE on its wire ropes saw such little degradation on the equipment that the initial application lasted for more than three years.
Skills and training
Understanding the range and specs of different lubricants is essential for lubrication specialists to be able to provide the necessary guidance to clients so that they find the best option to achieve the energy efficiency, lengthened equipment life and ROI that are so beneficial to mining companies. Ford says that LE prioritises in-house training for its team and that different people on the team collaborate and share knowledge from their areas of expertise.
“Our sales staff and technicians are regularly trained, and we also offer in-house customer training. We have a wide range of tribology-related equipment to help facilitate robust tests that really show what works best for each application,” he adds.
