“We pointed out the fact that Glencore had the first opportunity for the next step.
tep. “We learned quite
surface five-star mine,” continues Meischner. “And
we said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if they also had the
first underground one?’ Tim jumped on board, and
here we are.”
SUPPORTING AN UNDERGROUND OPERATION
1 could improve our operation.”
Nickel Rim South is the largest mine in Glencore’s
Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, which has
2
been mining in the area since 1929. The mine is
located in a 60-kilometer (37-mile) wide geological
formation known as the Sudbury basin. In addition
to Nickel Rim South, the operations also include
Fraser mine, Strathcona Mill and Sudbury Smelter.
The site primarily produces nickel and copper, with
some gold, silver, platinum, palladium and cobalt
also produced. The Sudbury operations employ
about 1,300 permanent workers.
Ore was discovered at the site between 1100
and 1700 meters (3,609 and 5,577 feet) in 2001.
Construction of Nickel Rim South began in 2006
and the mine has successfully operated at full
capacity since October 2010. The mine produces
about 1.25 million tonnes (1.38 million tons) per
year.
Nickel Rim South is a blasthole mine, allowing the
site to take advantage of gravity and a minimum
amount of hauling. The mine drills 30-meter
(98-foot) panels and handles the ore with scoops.
Production equipment includes 10 Cat R1700G
underground loaders, one Cat AD45 underground
articulated truck, three 420F backhoe loaders, a
120M motor grader and three TH40 telehandlers.
On the surface, operations are supported by an
IT38G integrated tool carrier and a V300B forklift.
Originally the mine operated with three
captive levels, which made it necessary to have
maintenance shops on each level. Each shop was
about 5 meters high and 5 meters wide (16.5 feet by
16.5 feet), a tight fit for a Cat R1700.
“We had one foreman for all three levels, which was
a little difficult,” recalls Hinds. “We couldn’t share
equipment and it was an effort to move people.”
New shops were built in 2008, but they were still
located on different levels and were far from ideal.
But Hinds looked at the challenges as a learning
a bit during those days about how we could make
improvements and what we ultimately wanted
our shop to be,” he says. “We listened to the
tradespeople and listened to our people to see how
we could get a better shop. We came up with a
vision of what we wanted that shop to be, and how it
TAKING MAINTENANCE TO A NEW LEVEL
In 2010, the Nickel Rim South team shared
its vision for a new maintenance shop with its
corporate owners, asking for US$10.3 million to
make it happen. That vision was broken down into
five key focus areas:
1. Safety. A more ergonomic shop design, combined
with a larger workspace and storage areas to
improve housekeeping, would make working
conditions safer for everyone on site.
2. Quality and reliability. A new shop
would improve maintenance across the
board — extending the lifespan of equipment,
minimizing the cost per hour of the equipment
fleet, and enabling a more comprehensive
component replacement program.
3. Revenue opportunity. Improved maintenance
leads to equipment that runs better and lasts
longer. A decrease in Mean Time to Repair
and fewer breakdowns make equipment more
available and could make it possible to reduce the
size of the fleet required to run the operation.
4. Materials savings. When maintenance is
proactive and components are replaced in a “In order to get the
timely manner, fewer parts and components funding for the new
must be kept on hand in case of an emergency
shop, we had to work
repair. In addition, managing inventory of
hard to ensure that
parts and tools in a centralized facility leads to
improved efficiencies.
we achieve the high
standards in all of
5. Labor productivity improvements.
our focus areas,” says
Providing a centralized space for maintenance
Hinds. “And I have
employees, with active supervision, would create
synergies and build a unified, focused team. In
to say, we’ve achieved
our target and are able
addition, the new space would allow the mine to
do more work on its own equipment rather than to showcase every one
contract it out. of them.”
»»»