Are all mines like this?

I have been working for the last three years in an open pit copper mine in northern British Columbia. The money is good and the camp is okay but the equipment maintenance is absolutely terrible and its driving me nuts. I normally operate dozer, wheel loader (992C) or one of two PC2000's. Windows are left broken, mirrors are held on with duct tape and in one case on a D8R, instead of repairing and adjusting the decellerator pedal, a rock was black taped to it so it would have enough travel. It was later replaced with a piece of 2x4. All the directions to do "temporary repairs" come right from the top.
One mechanic quit when he was called on the carpet for doing temporary repairs that didn't last long enough. I was told I was whining too much when I complained about a broken seat back in a PC2000.
I don't mind running old equipment if its taken care of a little bit but this is getting a bit much. I'm used to running equipment in the forest and construction industry where things get fixed. This is my first time mining. I would hate to get a job in another mine only to find out that its just as bad as this one. So are all mines like this?

Sounds like it's time for an anonymous call to whatever safety regulators have jusridiction, they'll sort that BS out in a hurry.

And no, I have it on good authority that very few mines operate that way, at least not for long.

I'll second that.......generally the larger the company the more anal they are about maintenance.

Yup, sounds like the exception to the rule.

Nige, you still at PV?

It can vary a lot. Even within the same company!

Where I worked I feel I had a good relationship with the local supervisor and while there were things I wished could have done better for the most part no safety related things were overlooked for any amount of time. One example is the WA600 we had since new, believe it was a 1996, many times I was told how good it looked compared to one of the same age at a sister quarry less than an hour ride away. This was by guys including my supervisor and operators from our quarry as well as a couple sub-contractor mechanics who did much work there. I personally had to go to this plant early this spring and saw this machine it's true they actually put cut off oil drums under it when parked for any time. :beatsme Not saying ours looks like a display model from the equipment show on Las Vegas but if parked over night in the shop on a clean floor one shop towel would wipe up and drips in the morning.

Another thing this spring I was working on the sealed pins on our 988H that were leaking, again not leaving puddles, just a wet area down the side of the boom for most of the last season. I had checked the oil level in them at least once and it was only down a slight amount. As I recall they hold around 5 gallons of oil so that would be a very big mess if even 1/4 of that had leaked out. Before tearing it apart I had washed the machine off as I almost always would on a project like this a couple hours with the pressure washer. Anyhow when I was part way through the reassembly phase my supervisor and his boss happened to come through the shop and they stopped to look at the 988H. This boss while looking at the 988H kind of looked confused and asked how come this machine looked so good :spaz I don't recall what my supervisor replied but do recall him talking about it later with a lot or head shaking! This boss is in charge of several quarries around the state including the one where the aforementioned WA600 is located. He also made a point when he took over his position to say that he was going to get our plant up to speed like this plant with the drain pans under it as he felt they did everything better than us.

Guess I got carried away a bit but the main point is even two quarries/mines in the same company within a few miles of each other can vary a major amount. And these examples are not of some small time outfit but one of the largest aggregate companies in world with operations world wide.

blitz138 said:

Nige, you still at PV?

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No mate. I left there at the end of January for an (allegedly) well-earned retirement. However that may all be changing because I might end up back in Latin America shortly.

I thought as much Nige, you just don't sound like the type to give it up that easily, eh?

Yeah BDFT ....

This is a perfect opportunity to get to know the equipment better that you are operating .

Try communicating with the mechanic directly & help him with needed repairs .

Pay attention and after a while you will be able to operate & repair the machine as needed and the mechanic will be upset if you don't call on him once in awhile .

Deal with it Bro & learn .

The time will come at some point in life when you realize if you want something done ...... Well ..... you have to do it yourself .

Nige said:

No mate. I left there at the end of January for an (allegedly) well-earned retirement. However that may all be changing because I might end up back in Latin America shortly.

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That's cool Nige ! Hope it works out:thumbsup

No, most mines are nothing like that. I'm guessing you are at Chuckleberry, and if so, I have heard a few things about the owners financial situation, especially after the Likely incident that may be contributing factors. Knowing mining in our general neck of the woods, I can say that no, this is the exception to the rule, and that if you found something elsewhere, you would likely find it much different.

Yes, I know, I changed the mine name so as not to give it away.

Chuckleberry is a good way to describe it.

Second alco, financial problems. Indicator of a shutdown in the near future.

Nige said:

No mate. I left there at the end of January for an (allegedly) well-earned retirement. However that may all be changing because I might end up back in Latin America shortly.

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Are you going to bring Colombia's mining up to speed?

td25c said:

Yeah BDFT ....

This is a perfect opportunity to get to know the equipment better that you are operating .

Try communicating with the mechanic directly & help him with needed repairs .

Pay attention and after a while you will be able to operate & repair the machine as needed and the mechanic will be upset if you don't call on him once in awhile .

Deal with it Bro & learn .

The time will come at some point in life when you realize if you want something done ...... Well ..... you have to do it yourself .

Click to expand...

Just to set the record straight, I have 30+ years of experience operating equipment and have owned, operated and repaired a lot of my own. I wanted to run some big(ger) iron and when the opportunity presented itself, I hired on. And, BTW, we're not allowed to do any repairs ourselves and very seldom get to help the mechanic.

Alco pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Yeah , Gotcha BDFT . Hopefully things turn around for the better in the future .