April 2008

Blair Athol set for best practice

Blair Athol Mine will be in the race for international best practice when a new bucket and rigging package is trialled this month.

The package would see as little as 35 per cent of the dragline's boom capacity taken up by buckets and rigging, compared with 37.6 per cent currently, reaching best practice.

Improving the efficiency of the dragline means more dirt can be moved with less cost and energy consumption, leaving a smaller environmental footprint.

The concept originated from Blair Athol Mine Overburden Superintendent Adam Attreed who had been looking at ways to reduce unproductive weight from dragline suspended loads and replace this with payload.

Dragline/Shovel Planner Pat Lonergan then refined this conceptual idea to a stage where scale testing could take place at a low cost and low risk to the site.

"Key modifications were the removal of the spreader bar from the rigging and the addition of 'hungry boards' that attach onto the dragline bucket to increase the volume of material that can be moved," Pat said.

"The scale testing has shown we could see up to a seven to eight per cent increase in production."

The dragline common practice work group, a group of employees that works together on various projects, has been coordinating a project across Rio Tinto's dragline fleet on innovative ways to lower the weight of buckets and rigging, significant improvements have already been realised.

General Manager Technical Nick Barlow said: "The team at Blair Athol Mine and the work group have done an excellent job of identifying areas for improvement to add value to the business."

The common practice work group also recognises that as draglines are our most efficient dirt moving machines we need to ensure we have the best operators possible.
 
To select and train the dragline operators, the group has developed a selection process in conjunction with the Blair Athol Mine and Bengalla.

The new package includes simulators and reflex tests to select and train operators.  The new package is expected to be rolled out to other RTCA sites.
 
Hail Creek Mine has already been using creative means to help with a shortage of dragline operators, with staff from Hunter Valley Operations and Mount Thorley Warkworth seconded to Queensland to assist.

The operators from NSW have helped Hail Creek with their workload and assisted in training new operators on the equipment.