Trailing Cable Repair Programme at an Open Pit Mine

Client Background

An open pit mine was consuming trailing cable at a rate that made it one of the site's largest maintenance consumables. Most of the consumption was driven by localised abrasion damage rather than by end of life.

Project Challenge

Give the mine's electrical maintenance team the capability to repair abraded trailing cable in the field, and set a stock holding that means they never wait for material.

Customer Pain Points

• Trailing cable replaced whole because of localised abrasion
• Repairs attempted with general purpose tubing failing within weeks
• No agreed stock holding so material was ordered reactively
• Maintenance electricians rather than specialist jointers doing the work

Our Solution

R1 wraparound sleeves for the terminated positions and S3(nh) heavy wall tubing for free end repairs. Illustrated instructions were rewritten for a maintenance electrician rather than a specialist jointer. Stock holding was set provisionally then adjusted after one maintenance cycle against what was actually consumed.

Manufacturing Process

Heavy wall grades with the thickened design that gives the abrasion allowance an open pit needs. Adhesive lined throughout because every position is exposed to water.

Supply Chain Coordination

Provisional holding delivered then reviewed after three months. The final holding was roughly forty percent smaller than the initial estimate in two sizes and larger in one.

Quality Control

Per lot testing of tensile strength elongation heat aging and water absorption with batch traceability on every carton.

Final Result

Repair became a routine shift activity rather than an event. Trailing cable consumption fell materially in the first year and the maintenance team stopped ordering reactively.

Customer Benefit

A repair capability that lives with the maintenance team, and a stock holding sized by what actually gets used.