WESTERN REGION MASTER MECHANICS ASSOCIATION

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JULY 21, 2005 6:30 – 9:30pm WSA HOSPITALITY DINNER, NO HOST BAR, DOOR PRIZES

 ELKO NV – STOCKMAN’S HOTEL & CASINO – POOLSIDE

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JULY 22, 2005 WRMMA MEETING MINUTES –

ELKO NV – STOCKMAN’S HOTEL & CASINO - Upstairs

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7:00a.m. to 7:30a.m. Registration / Sign in – Ellis Ritz

Dues $40.00 per person $140.00 for 4 persons or more from one site

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

Your Officer’s

Co-Chairman Bob Frayser - Newmont

Co-Chairman Ellis Ritz Placer Dome Cortez

Secretary / Treasurer Kevin Hughes – Barrick

Minutes Stenographer – None

 

7:30a.m. to 10:00 a.m. General Business – Report Outs

9:00a.m. to 9:15a.m. Break

 

 

 

ATTENDEES:

            Kevin Hughes – Barrick Gold Corporation

            Rick Sheets – Barrick Gold Corporation

            Tyler Culp – Barrick Gold Corporation

            Cecil Sloan – Utah / Nevada Fabrication

            Tina Sloan – Utah / Nevada Fabrication

            Nash Johnson – Newmont Mining Corporation

            Brian Campbell – Robinson Mine – Washington Group

            Bill Burt - Newmont Mining Corporation

            Ken Andress - Newmont Mining Corporation

            Hicham Agua – Emission Control

            Jim Trosper – Coeur Rochester

            Robert Veach – Cummins Rocky Mountain

            Carlos Guzman – Bald Mountain Mine - Placer Dome

            Bob Frayser - Newmont Mining Corporation

            John Palmer – Robinson Mine - Quadra Mining

            Ellis Ritz – Cortez Mine Placer Dome

            Bob Hinkley – Rocky Mountain Machine Shop

            Rich Fifield – Barrick Gold Corporation

            Terry Haygood – Open Loop Energy Incorporated

 

 

9:15 a.m. to 10:00a.m. Updates from each site attending: Changes, News, and Gossip – Continued

 

Coeur Rochester – Tires are a huge issue. Talked to operators about what they can do to protect tires. They may put chains on 16Gs to save tires. New employees and related issues, training, safety concerns, getting people to work has been a challenge. Coeur has been running in a survival mode being short-handed, etc. They are looking very hard for a gas mechanic. They have gone to a behavior based safety program. They are just now getting it off of the ground. Coeur does job task analysis to step back and look at the job and re-ask the questions what do we need and what do we need to do in order to perform a task safely.

 

Bald Mountain – Member is on a six-month assignment. Bald Mountain was on a shut down mode for a few years and then found more ore. So, they are taking best practices from Cortez to implement at Bald Mountain. They have been able to fill positions, but the technician skill level is lacking. Planning is very important and is the concerted effort. Have been having problems with the correct inventory, parts staging, stock item justifications. Bald Mountain personnel want to know how other mines work their reorder points and quantities. They sent all their parts that were batched back to the supplier and revamped the way they get and stage parts. It has caused some pains, but they are looking at the right way to get parts as a result. Logistics is a challenge, as they have to come off of the hill to get parts and bulk commodities. They have found ore that is closer to the shop that will help with time requirements to get parts and things. The roads to get to the pits are not very wide and rely on radios to coordinate and escorts vehicles over the hill. The safety record is pretty good. The work force is composed of individuals that have less than one year or more than thirteen years. The mine life increased and will be officially announced soon. They will be going underground in November and is a big deposit. The dirt road is 40 miles and is difficult. Surface operations will continue when the underground is running. They will be bringing in equipment from their Golden Sunlight Mine. The mine is next to the Ruby Marshes and environmental compliance is very strict. There can be no liquids in containment, no open liquids. Generators run sumps to keep fluids cleaned out. Being next to a National Wildlife Refuse poses difficult challenges for environmental operations. The member reported losing more people than they are hiring. Placer Dome has converted to SAP from JD Edwards and is used to make all the operations consistent in how the documentation is done.

 

Robinson Mine – The member is new at the operation and did not have much to report. They are relatively new at the operation and will have more to report at the next meeting.

 

Barrick Goldstrike Mine - They want to have more discussions about what our industry is doing to help get people trained and qualified. The enrollment in trade schools is down and bringing people into our industry is getting more and more difficult. Recruiting at high schools and other area is ongoing, but limited in success. They were able to hire six people out of 22 candidates. They are super busy and have many problems with manpower and getting parts. They use two inventory turns per year for inventory stock. They found that each order was about $150 to process even if it was a $2 item. They have had another huge steering cylinder campaign. They had some radial failures in the rods last November and shut down the fleet last week and replaced about fifty percent of the cylinder rods. The rods that were replaced were cracked and replaced due to the “err to the side of safety”. They received some cross-contaminated oil at the bulk terminal at Dunphy. The 10WT Hydraulic fluid was mixed with 10WT40 Engine oil and vice versa. They have had their second medical reportable in Maintenance and have implemented root cause analysis techniques to understand the common denominators related to the accidents. They have found that communication is a big key to preventing these events. They attend a special training class when accidents occur. They are sending all their technicians and supervisors to the class in the near future. Will report more later in their presentation. A fatality at the roaster, in the past, helped to drive development of standard operating procedures and related standard job plans. Getting standard job plans created for everything is an issue. An example is when hoist ropes are changed on a normal wear-out are different than when the ropes are unwound and tangled in the shovel house. Timelines are developed as part of the standard job plans. Barrick also uses a task assessment process to make sure that all angles of the job are looked at to insure a safe performance of tasks. It is a form of risk assessment. Stop, Think, and Act are important steps in the process. A truck came into the shop and had a bad tire on it….they immediately took the mechanics aside and brought in a tire technician to talk about the dangers associated with tires and this tire in particular. It was very educational for the technicians that are not normally exposed to situations such as this. Keep everyone on top of their game and conscious of what is going on around them while they are working. Communication is key to everyone understanding the situation at hand. Barrick had an incident with a D10R using a 20’ x 2’ sling to lift the track overloading the sling by about 4,000 pounds. They have performed this task many times, but have come to realize as a result of this accident that they were doing it unsafely. We have always done it that way, but it is not the correct way. An item was written on the “parking lot” for a future best practice discussion. The CAT documents state to “use sufficient lifting device” and do not detail. They have gone to a different sling style an “eye to eye” that will be used within the load limits of the job. They did change suppliers and brands of slings as a result. Within their standard job plans they use critical path stop signs to bring attention to the danger of a task. Cortez uses the CAT system to get service procedures and sometimes do not bring all of the information to their procedures. They use “cut and paste” and are concerned with what is being left out of the procedure. Barrick utilizes technician involvement to develop real life standard job plans and procedures. They still use the SOS – Surveyors Of Safety program to get the input from the hourly workforce. It really improves the awareness of the crewmembers and they firmly believe in a behavior based safety program. Twin Creeks uses a similar system BBSI and states that they struggle to get the participation. Barrick went totally anonymous to get the participation. The only salary person involved with the SOS program is the safety manager.  It took along time for Barrick to get the level of involvement in the program that they now have. It took a long to time to get over the stigma of it being a “RAT” program. Barrick claims that it is a very integral part of their safety program. Barrick uses parts expeditors to help with direct charge parts needs. They have implemented a “fast moving parts shelf” that is managed by warehouse personnel. The maintenance guys just go to the shelf to get their part(s). In a perfect world, materials personnel should manage materials and maintenance personnel should do maintenance activities. Barrick has gone to a new CMMS that is posing some efficiency and training related issues. It is Oracle based and the training could have been better saturated to the employees.

 

Cortez Mine – They have so many safety programs in place and stress safety everyday, yet people still perform unsafe behaviors. It is baffling why people don’t think about things before they perform the task. Some unsafe behaviors related to sling use and eyebolt use. Barrick also stated that they experience incidents with these items also. Fatalities occur each year related to these tools and standard operating procedures are developed as a result. Cortez asked the group how they hold people accountable to follow the standard operating procedures. Barrick says they use these procedures in their standard job plans to help insure that people perform tasks safely. They stated that accountability is held to development of the proper and correct standard job plan. Updating standard job plans and procedures is sometimes an issue. The Liebherr Superjack 4 has been recalled and not to be used. The cogs kept breaking off and rendered them unsafe. The discussing is that they will not provide an updated tool. There may be a product from Hedweld that suits this purpose according to Barrick. The member talked about how desire to get into the construction and mining industries is losing ground to computer and video game related industry. Caterpillar gave a presentation that showed emphasis on computer control systems and joystick control to bring better interest from those groups. Have a 3408 engine with a square tubing stand that uses air pushed through the stand an “air pallet” so to speak. It allows movement of the engine easily to the engine dyno-meter room etc. The member will try to provide pictures at the next meeting. They have purchase a new P&H 4100 shovel and are experiencing permitting delays with the new project that is slowing them down. The mining superintendent and the maintenance general foreman have been pulled out of the loop and placed into a special project. This has impacted the maintenance department dramatically. The new shovel has been problematic to date with many electrical related issues. Vendor service personnel availability is an issue for Cortez. High ambient temperature have been causing overheat and related temperature problems. They are still having oil-cooling issues related to the wheel motors. They are also experiencing load placement issues and currently have 33% of weight on the front of the 400-ton truck.

 

Rocky Mountain Machine Shop – Have just purchased a large water tower. The water tower is a big cost savings of water costs by re-circulating the water used to cool the chrome tanks instead of putting fresh clean water down the sewer. They have purchase a 24” large grinder to increase capacity and have a backup for another machine. They have purchased a hollow spindle lathe that has a long bed and large chuck through capacity. They are hiring a lot of new people that are going through very intense orientation training in order to prevent accidents and mistakes. They have to “grow” their employees and have trouble finding experienced hands. They have a safety incentive program that rewards the employee for a safe record.

 

Robinson Mine – Blocking and jacking equipment has been an emphasis as of late. Tires are huge issue. Use spray paint on rocks to help highlight tire damage hazards. Have new employees that are requiring a lot of training.

 

Twin Creeks Mine – The problem with keeping technicians is once they hit the top pay level, then they jump ship for someplace with a better top pay. They use MS Project for job plans. They now go a step further by using a 5-day prior to PM inspection. They also place the o-rings and seals with the equipment at the time of PM and this helps insure that the leaks get fixed. Parts are staged by a combination of warehouse and maintenance parts coordinator activities revolving around the pre-pm inspections and pm plans. The parts coordinator role is filled by mechanics. The inspections prior to PM events are helping a lot to get the backlog accurate and planned. The inspector takes a current system backlog report with him to the inspection and verifies that the work still needs complete and creates work orders for new items not on the backlog. The parts coordinators handle returned parts. The warehouse issues core tags and maintenance personnel tag the cores when the core is delivered to the warehouse for processing. Maintenance takes care of managing their direct charge parts. When a d/c parts order is received the original requisitioner is notified by automatic email informing them that their part has arrived. Twin Creeks uses the STARR safety program and is well liked. It uses a risk assessment to the behavior based safety program. The program itself helps to build better procedures by looking at the risk associated with the tasks. The mechanics on the crew are able to voice their concerns in a proactive way that helps break down the communication related issues with reporting safety concerns.

 

Utah / Nevada Fabrication – They look at the scope of work and make sure they have the right people and equipment at the time they do the work to help insure a smooth and safe job execution. Finding qualified people is a challenge and has had to hire young inexperienced people. The high schools don’t provide the type of trades training that is applicable to the mining welding industry. They put the new people in the shop for closer training and development activities. Trade school sponsorships and scholarships are options to offer and have them to hire on while in school or just after.

 

Newmont Western Nevada Operations – Continue to see early hour transmission failures in the haul trucks due to X37 black clutch lining failure. They are still being affected by the outer planetary bearing failures on the CAT wheel groups. There is no fix for these yet and they have experienced a 100% failure rate. Four of the 16 new CAT793Cs are in action with 3 more coming in on transports next week.

 

Lone Tree / Phoenix Complex – Lone Tree just day-lighted a KT38C Cummins block due to the #6 right rod cap bolt breaking after one week. They are experiencing overheating problems with the Hitachi Shovel and Cat Haul Truck Fleets. There is not much air flow in the pit and it is narrow and deep, so high ambient with no air movement is a contributing factor.

 

Gold Quarry Mines – The employees had short notice from Barrick to attend today’s meeting. They are missing many due to vacations, etc and didn’t know who would be available until late. Tires are an issue and the operations group is instrumental in tire life. Awareness levels are up and have made a lot of strides in the importance of saving tires. The operators have been communicated with extensively. They have gone to a new tire tracking software called Total Tire Control. There is a learning curve to getting the value out of it though. There is opportunity for better analysis. This is a drag-and-drop type software and is user friendly. There is another “add-on” that allows the use of a data collector like a Palm Pilot that allows field collection of tire data. This data is then downloaded into the main software once back at the shop. The member asked about a previous presentation of breakaway fuel hose fittings. They are now using the fittings, but are experiencing a slower fuel transfer rate. Cortez has limited use of these fittings claiming a setscrew leak problem and has relaxed a bit in their use. The quality of the fittings was the issue…they still like the idea of break away protection. Barrick uses a lockout procedure while fueling that eliminates the risk of truck drive-offs. It depends on who does the fueling and the related procedures for the area and tasks. Corporate pressure on tire manufactures is happening. Manpower on hourly and salary has cause a reduction of some programs. The NDT program has gained emphasis and is doing well. The NDT testing is scheduled for the PMs and is triggered from standard jobs. They are looking at ball studs very closely and also truck frames around the torque tube areas. Records are kept and problem areas are put into the inspection routines. Standard jobs and job cards are used extensively. There are so many new faces that these documents and procedures are very important to safe performance. They continually improve upon standard jobs and procedures. They use the PASS safety program and is employee driven and a behavior based process. There is a lot of hourly involvement and results in good buy in from the employees. The company has employed various hiring incentives such as signing bonuses, recruiting bonuses, referral payments, etc to help get people. 

 

Cummins Rocky Mountain – They lay down their barrels of oil so that contaminants don’t enter the barrels. Also it is a good idea to store hydraulic cylinders vertically.

 

Open Loop Energy – Manpower is difficult, but they were able to hire two new people and base them in Winnemucca. They are on a 90-day training program, but require a constant watch. It is difficult to compete with the mines for people. They have implemented hiring incentives such as tool boxes that become the technicians after two years of service. Turnover hasn’t been a huge problem, but hiring additional employees is difficult.

 

 

 

 

REPORT OUT TOPICS

NOTE – IF UNABLE TO ATTEND PLEASE SEND A REPLACEMENT PREPARED TO PRESENT YOUR PART

10:00a.m. to Noon Sharing Best Practices Presentations

 

·         Inflatable Drain Pans – Coeur Rochester – Jim Trosper – Presentation, bring samples or slides

o        Jim brought a sample drain / catch pool that they use while performing maintenance at the mine and showed some digital pictures of the kits installed on the equipment.

·         Latch bar inserts – Newmont – Pat McAmis – Presentation

o        Nash Johnson gave a short presentation on the new latch bar design. You can see the slideshow on the website at www.master-mechanics.org

·         SP270 Hydraulic / Pull-down Cylinder Issues – Barrick – Rick Carrick – Presentation

o        There is a mid-cylinder reinforcement stabilizer field fix for the pull-down cylinder and a new cylinder / mast design is forthcoming. The problem is the rod is bending and also the barrel at down pressures at 70,000 foot pounds.

 

 

Noon to 1:00p.m. Lunch break (Provided by WSA)

 

1:00p.m. to 3:00p.m. Sharing Best Practices Presentations

 

·         Ellis provided a handout of pictures and the electronic version will be posted on the website at www.master-mechanics.org

·         Cortez uses a manifold for making sure that all of their air gauges read the same and are correct. They use wider corners to keep tire sidewall roll minimized which helps in maximizing tire life. They use a Michelin hot air check tool. One is for dry and one is for use with liquid or tire life. This allows air checks at operating temperatures. This tool and process was proven at a mine in Chile recently. It is basically used in conjunction in with a thermometer. Air pressure was checked and adjusted up 5 psi and the tire temperature after running for an unspecified time was then in an acceptable range.  Member reports that LTUG members state that some perform onsite in-house repairs that enable them to get better life of tires. Used tires are being pulled out of dump and being brokered for extreme prices. Some repairs are now being done that would not have been done traditionally. Michelin is building a new mold to help the situation, but will not be in production until the last quarter of 2006. Michelin is not allowing any new customers. Bridgestone is also increasing capacity, but will not be available until 2007. Each manufacturer is at their maximum capacity now.

·         Robinson – Marking rocks that are in the haul that pose a hazard to tire life. They do air checks twice per week to correct operating conditions.

·         Gold Quarry has experienced as much as 40 psi differences in reading among air gauges pulled out of mechanics toolboxes and tested. They also use a process to insure accuracy as 5-psi differences in pressure can have a huge impact on tires. Member reports that he was in discussion that a mine site had installed a hydraulic snow plow on pit supervisor pickups for chasing and bumping rocks off of haul roads instead of waiting for a motor grader, etc.

·         Barrick Goldstrike – They are using training and awareness to make tire related business safer. They are using peer pressure and visual tools to police poor operating practices. Management is on board with better management of tire related operating and haul road conditions.

·         Twin Creeks Mine – Observation – “Supers” work great in one direction, but allow for excess speed and tire sidewall roll thus damaging the tires. Left-hand downhill traffic seems to be the culprit.

 

3:00p.m. to 3:15p.m. Break

 

3:15p.m. to 3:45p.m. General Meeting Review

 

What worked? Location, format, content, presentations, and flow

What didn’t work? The turnout was poor. This meeting cost us about $4,000 for all as we give estimates and are held to those estimates when it comes time to charge for meals, etc. We paid for 100 dinners and only had about half of that show up. This doubles the cost per person. The facilities were not prepared. The coffee was not available until almost 8:00 am; the room was set up for 12 people with no flipchart, no whiteboard, no sign in table, etc. The room was very warm until about 9:00am….

Suggested changes of formats, dates, locations, frequency, newsletter, etc.

·         Better preparation of the meeting facility if we stay with Stockman’s Hotel & Casino.

Selection of vendor for company/equipment updates.

·         Goodyear Two Piece Tire presenter

3:45p.m. to 4:30p.m. Action Planning

 

Topic selection process for next WRMMA meeting study groups. 3W review.

o        Where to find employees? Geotemps Inc. Jocelyn Cervantes to give presentation

o        Where are training agencies for “New Hires” Geotemps Inc. – Jocelyn Cervantes – to give presentation

o        How do you distribute procedures so the mechanic uses or looks at them? All Sites to report out

o        Track changing procedures. All Sites to report out

o        Fuel Break-Away fittings – Newmont East – Ken Andress

o        Fast Moving Parts management – Barrick Goldstrike – Kevin Hughes

o        Latch Bar safety procedures / Top Loading Latch Bar – Cortez / Barrick – Ellis Ritz, Rich Fifield, Kevin Hughes

o        Fuel filter plugging / Fleetguard Cortez test – Quick Report – Cortez – Ellis Ritz

o        Twin Trip Motor Set-up Presentation – Kennecott Utah Copper – Mike Trujillo

o        G.E. Betz – Fuel Additives – Quadra Robinson Mine - John Palmer

o        Hitachi EX3600 Cooling package changes – Bald Mountain Mine – Carlos Guzman

o        Goodyear 2 Piece Tires – Bring in Goodyear Representative – Cortez Mine – Ellis Ritz

o        Cool Tool Presentation – Newmont West – Bob Frayser

o        Site updates, reports, gossip, news

 

NO

What

Who

When

Comments

1

Hire a Stenographer for taking minutes at the next meeting

Ellis Ritz

Nov 10, 2005

Locate an individual and set up for meeting

2

Each Site member to bring an operations person to the next meeting

All Sites

Nov 10, 2005

Typically one who interacts the most with maintenance personnel, i.e. Trainer, Coordinator, Dispatcher, etc.

3

Post Minutes to Website for July Meeting

Bob Frayser

Aug 15, 2005

Finalize and post to website.