This is conveyor system C6-11 on Export Circuit at Rio Tinto Australia Gove (RTAG) bauxite operations.

Recently, instinctive quick thinking coupled with extensive experience in conveyor belt maintenance and repair work averted a potentially disastrous incident, and in the nick of time.

There’s only one major conveyor belt artery connecting the mine pit to port at the Rio Tinto Australia Gove (RTAG) bauxite operations in Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory.

Unplanned maintenance breakdowns outside of regular scheduled downtime stoppages for this major conveyor system introduce increased safety risks to onsite teams and are extremely costly and unwelcome.

Rio Tinto’s Gove operation, at the top end of Australia, exports just under 12 million tonnes globally of some of the world’s highest quality bauxite.

The main C6-7 artery belt delivers 1750 tonnes per hour from mine to port into waiting bulk ore carriers.

Because bauxite is quite a sticky product, the conveyors all have a belt turnover at both the head and tail of each section so carry-back can be better dislodged and removed.

Otherwise the sticking carry-back would generate major damage very quickly, requiring more maintenance and stoppages.

RTAG has its own mechanical and conveyor maintenance crews but, like many other mines and processing plants, enlists the additional aid of specialist contractor teams for major site maintenance.

In one case, during one of the five regular scheduled maintenance shutdowns each year, a maintenance technician who was mobilising from one conveyor site to another noticed the smell of hot rubber.

There were many conveyors operating around the area and identifying which was the one overheating would have been quite an unplanned nuisance which would have caused an unexpected delay to the maintenance task.

But in this instance, Geoff Dixon, who has been a member of Contitech’s RTAG FIFO maintenance shutdown team for several years, felt strongly about his obligations and chose to trust his instincts.

So, he started conducting a search until he found and immediately shut down the culprit conveyor.

It was the C6-5 belt. Its turnover section had become dislodged and was engaging with part of the roller frame. Were it not stopped then and there, a major breakdown event would have occurred, possibly within minutes rather than hours.

“If Geoff didn’t have the owner’s mindset at heart and follow up and investigate based on his gut feeling, C6-5 conveyor belt could have catastrophically failed which would have introduced several hundred hours of creditable fatality risk and millions of dollars in lost production,” mechanical and conveyor maintenance superintendent – Gove operations for RTAG, Dave Watson said.

“This behaviour shown by Geoff is directly in line with our Rio Tinto core values of care, courage, and curiosity.

“‘Stop and Seek Help’” is a powerful Human Performance Tool we introduced seven years ago.

“It has been one of the biggest successes in shifting our mindset in making our team feel safe when asking for help, instead of being grilled and told to just ‘figure it our yourself,’” Watson said.

“We’ve been using Contitech’s conveyor maintenance crews for several years now and are extremely happy with their attitude to safety above everything else, and a positive ‘do whatever it takes’ attitude,” Watson said.

“Collaboration between our teams and theirs has consistently been the hallmark of our relationship.

“Recently, when Covid was really hitting us really hard up here, having to deal with regional airline stoppages, random testing etc and we needed immediate help with an ad hoc belt change out, I contacted Alan Anderson at Contitech to see if he could help.

“He dropped everything to help us, as usual. They even chartered a special flight so he and his crew could get all the way up here to save us from a major unscheduled stoppage. That’s typical of Alan and his Contitech crew.

“It’s a two-way street. Big companies like Rio Tinto have an obligation to treat their contractors properly and recognise their vital assistance in helping keep their assets as safe and productive as possible. It pays off for both parties. It’s just good sense.”

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