St. Ives gold mine slashes maintenance costs with FerroCer® Impact wear panels

With weak mineral prices holding steady, mines all over the world are forced to focus on operational efficiency and productivity. Many successful mines are zeroing in on maintenance and downtime. St. Ives gold mine, one of Australia’s most important mines, has reduced shutdown intervals by installing FerroCer® Impact wear panels in their feed chute below their primary crusher.

 

The maintenance team at St. Ives was having issues with their discharge chutes. They were using heavy-duty rubber impact bars that typically needed to be replaced every 6 to 8 weeks. This was setting back the mine’s shutdown cycle, which was set at every 12 weeks.

Maintenance Supervisor Gary Ellis says, “Our rubber liners were simply not able to handle the impact of -400 mm rocks dropping from a height of 2 meters. We needed something that would last 12 weeks or longer to maintain an uninterrupted production flow.”

The maintenance team surveyed various rubber and metallic wear solutions. Ultimately they chose FerroCer Impact ceramic wear panels. FerroCer’s ceramic and metal matrix is tough. It can withstand intense pressure and the massive impact of falling ore. “Initially, I was sceptical that these kinds of liners could withstand the heavy impact from rocks of this size. Once we learned about FerroCer’s design, we became convinced”, says Gary.

FerroCer has lasted more than four times longer than the old rubber wear panels. That is taking St. Ives a long way towards reducing maintenance costs and achieving an uninterrupted production flow. Gary concludes,“I have to say, we’re pretty amazed.”