Relationship between the productivity, the maintenance and the replacement in the large mining

Abstract

The mining industry is one of the most important sectors of economy in most countries, developing it as efficiently as possible is a major task for science, due to this reason great efforts are being devoted to study the main operations that make it up in order to optimize resources. The problem that bases this investigation is the need to establish the relationship between productivity, maintenance and replacement of mining equipment that is used in large-scale in the open-pit mining, based on the analysis of their performance under specific exploitation conditions. For this purpose we have done the description of the technological flow of the mine, characterizing the mining equipment that intervenes in the exploitation process, have been evaluated the conditions under which the machinery is replaced and the effects that the deficiencies in this process cause the cost of operations. A field research has been carried out, applying the method of case study as a main technique, whose most relevant result has been the calculation of the total productivity index of transport equipment, excavation-load and bulldozers, yielding values of 51.72%, 48.88% and 55.51% respectively, showing reductions in productivity of the park of machines between 44% and 51%. Among the main causes that have influenced the reduction of the productivity index of the machinery park is the technical availability, increased by the deficiencies in the compliance of the maintenance plans, which in turn is closely related to the acquisition modality that applies to each specific team and the decision to replace at the right time.