Image: Marampa Project: Maintenance strategy development for iron ore brownfield site

Minerals & Metals1 min read

Marampa Project: Maintenance strategy development for iron ore brownfield site

Location
Sierra Leone, Africa
Client
London Mining
Timeframe
2011
Commodity
Iron Ore

The Marampa iron ore mine is a 13.82km² brownfield site which reached a peak production of 2.5 Mt/y in the 1960s before low iron ore prices forced its closure. In 2006 London Mining acquiring the mining license for Marampa to begin redevelopment of the mine.

London Mining was currently in the construction phase aiming to produce 5 Mt/y of sinter concentrates from a blend of tailings and ore. A preliminary feasibility study had been completed for an expansion to produce 16 Mt/y of concentrate for the remainder of the Marampa ore body of a 25 year mine life.

Ausenco Rylson was engaged to support the onsite Ausenco team with the maintenance component of the project.

The scope of Ausenco Rylson’s work on the project included:

  • Development of Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) based maintenance strategy for the mine
  • Identification and validation of spare parts for the maintenance strategy
  • Support to the Ausenco onsite team in the delivery of the maintenance strategy and CMMS implementation.

Achievements

The Ausenco Rylson team developed a maintenance strategy from the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) recommendations and implemented this strategy into the CMMS. The maintenance strategy included primary service sheets for all the plant assets and these are linked to the MEX CMMS.

Secondary standard job instructions were developed for all frequent maintenance tasks resulting from the primary inspections. Operating spares were identified and catalogued into the CMMS and linked to their parent equipment. The outcomes for London Mining include increased reliability of equipment to meet production needs and assurance that critical spares are available when required.