Want to take care of your mining equipment but don’t know how? Check out this guide to find out how you can keep your mining equipment in good condition.
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Introduction
To have a smooth mining process, owning good quality equipment is a must. And so it is important to keep your mining equipment in good working condition.
Not taking care of your mining equipment will hinder the productivity of your mining process and decrease your equipment’s lifetime. This may lead you to spend a lot of money fixing it or changing it completely.
All of this can be avoided if you properly take care of your machinery and tools.
But not knowing the do’s and don’ts could be a bit of a problem. And so, to help you out, we have put together a detailed guideline below that will help you keep your mining equipment in good working condition.
Common Mining Equipment
There aren’t any fixed sets of equipment when it comes to mining. It completely differs on the source being mined, hazard issues, and the working site. However, even though mining equipment differs from project to project, some specific types of equipment are commonly used during mining.
Few of this equipment are noted down below,
- Drill rigs-
This is a highly adaptable unit of heavy machinery. It is widely used for mining operations such as rock extraction both on the surface and underground. It’s one of the different types of mining tools.
- Crushers-
As the name suggests, this machine takes large rocks and crushes them into smaller rocks or dust.
- Haul trucks-
Haul trucks are very similar to dum trucks, but they are much more robust and larger in size. They are made to serve high-volume operations during mining. These huge vehicles carry large amounts of evacuated rocks and dirt, raw materials, and other materials from the mining site.
- Dozers-
Dozers are used in mining for their strength, mobility, and tenacity. Smaller dozers are used underground, whereas larger ones are used during heavy-duty mining jobs.
- Wheel loaders-
These tools play a very crucial role during mining. Wheel loaders or Underground Loaders work at any mine entrance to dig through the material and properly lift and transport it.
How to Keep Your Mining Equipment in Good Condition
Although most mining equipment is durable and made to withstand heavy-duty work, you should still take care of it to keep it in good condition. These tools are definitely not cheap. So buying them, again and again, can undoubtedly undermine your profitability.
To avoid that and ensure that each piece of equipment does its job smoothly, you need to maintain your equipment in good shape. Here are a few steps that you can follow to achieve that.
1. Keep your equipment clean.
The mining method generally involves a large amount of mud, soil, and grit that accumulates quickly. So it’s essential to clean your equipment after use. A dirt build-up will decrease the equipment’s efficiency considerably. It’s more likely to break down and potentially halt production.
However, we need to maintain mining equipment’s efficiency.
Every instrument should be properly washed on a daily basis, by using appropriate materials and procedures for each unit.
Machinery or important pieces of equipment should be stored in a clean and safe area. Using clean pieces of equipment also makes the workers more motivated to use them.
2. Lubricate the equipment properly.
Lubrication is a critical step for keeping your equipment smooth and running well. The parts of your machine will fail if they aren’t properly lubricated. When the machine parts are not properly lubricated, it will cause friction, resulting in wear and tear on the equipment.
If this keeps on happening repeatedly, the quality of your equipment will deteriorate over time. And you may have to pay a hefty price to fix or replace it. So it’s better to spend money on lubricants to avoid spending a huge expense later down the line.
This is why it is very important to lubricate your equipment to ensure that their moving parts are working effectively and smoothly.
3. Repair damages immediately
Wear and tear might often occur in a mining project. But you should never neglect them because these minor damages can quickly escalate and cause more extensive damage than expected, especially if the equipment is used very often.
All mining equipment needs inspection regularly, and any minor damages on any parts should be taken care of as soon as possible. This preventative repair will extend the equipment’s life and boost its overall efficiency, allowing for faster mining operations and increased worker protection.
4. Properly train your workers.
To avoid any form of injury in the workplace and ensure smooth usage of your equipment, it is crucial to train your workers properly. Since mining equipment is so advanced, it requires specialized expertise to operate it correctly.
If individuals with poor knowledge use these machines, then they might end up causing permanent damage to your machinery or, worse, cause an accident and injure themselves. This is why only employees who have received proper maintenance and safety training should be allowed to handle your mining equipment.
To ensure that your workers are appropriately trained, you can host monthly workshops to keep them up-to-date about machinery technology or other safety precautions.
Conclusion
You will now be able to take care of your mining equipment the right way and increase its longevity. Like any other tool, if you want anything to last longer, you need to take care of it properly. The same goes for your mining equipment.
We hope you found this article helpful. We tried our best to provide you with all relevant guidelines and tips to keep your mining equipment in good working condition.
