MAINTENANCE AND COST EVALUATION OF AN AUTOMATED HAULAGE TRUCK AT INCO LIMITED

In 1983, Inco Limited began a program to design a rapid ore transportation system. This program was designed to serve two purposes: to provide a new effective material transport system for ramp haulage and to perform research and development to develop enabling technologies for future mine automation. As a result of the program, Inco designed and constructed a prototype automatic haulage truck. The premise of the truck operation was to serve as a haulage system on mining horizons where conveyor belt systems were not feasible. The intention was for the truck to haul material from a loading chute to a dumping area, using a self-guiding mechanism. The truck was commissioned to operate at Inco's Little Stobie Mine in May 1991. This paper discusses the maintenance characteristics of the automated haulage truck at Little Stobie mine of Inco Limited in Ontario, Canada. The paper also discusses the truck's performance compared to conventional truck haulage systems of similar capacity. The maintenance study of the 70-ton trolley-driven automatic truck presented in this paper covers the period of May 1991 to December 1993. The study discusses failure characteristics, frequency of occurrence of faults and calculation of the truck's availability. Furthermore, indexed cost information related to the truck's productivity is also presented. The outcome of this paper will indicate that automation of truck haulage systems is a reliable and cost-effective alternative for underground mines.