Reliability and Maintainability Analysis of Material Handling Machinery in Golegohar Mine No. 1

Abstract

Loading and hauling machines are of the most important operational units in open pit mines, which their failure can lead to reduction in production and profitability of mines. Therefore, it is very important to do a reliability and maintainability analysis of mining machines in order to make a better decision with respect to operation and maintenance of machines as well as production control in the mine. Awareness of transport units operational conditions and precise control over them are the key elements for preventing unwanted stops and improving the performance of machines. The aim of this study is to evaluate the reliability and maintainability of loading and hauling equipment in Golegohar Mine No. 1 in Iran, which produce 12 million tons of iron ore annually. For this purpose, the failure data of transport units including dump trucks, mining shovels and backhoe excavators were collected over a period of one year. Then the data were analyzed based on the statistical method to produce the reliability and maintainability parameters of each mining equipment. The time corresponding to reliability and maintainability levels of 90 and 50 percent are also calculated and presented.