Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr
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O P E R AT I N G S T R AT E G I E S machine guidance availability of almost 23%—from 75% up to 98%. Newmont Boddington Gold is so happy with the results that they have turned off their GPS-only solutions altogether, and now rely solely and successfully on Jps alone. They have already installed Jps on eleven drills and intend to equip their entire high-precision fleet." The Mining Solution The Leica Geosystems/Locata partnership was announced as part of a global initiative Leica introduced at MINExpo 2012, in which the entire Leica Geosystems technology portfolio will be offered to the mining industry as a comprehensive mining solution. As a part of the company's mining solution, Leica said its GeoMos slope-stability monitoring software will be fully integrated with the Jmineops fleet management system. Pit slope stability alerts from the GeoMoS monitoring system will be routed in real-time to Jmineops. Each GeoMos monitoring project will be fully visible along with all other Jmineops data. Also showcased alongside the GeoMos integration was an innovative UAV (un- www.e-mj.com manned aerial vehicle) resulting from a technology partnership between Leica Geosystems Mining and UAV developer SwissDrones. Specifically designed for the mining environment, Leica said the UAV can fly for up to four hours via line-of-site remote control. In the near future, the unit will be fully automated. Leica's RCD30 medium format camera has been integrated into the SwissDrones Waran helicopterstyle TC -1235 UAV to provide high-quality multispectral imagery and accuracy. Weighing in on Equipment Total Cost of Ownership Actronic Technology, the New Zealandbased developer of the Loadrite range of products for weighing wheel loader/ excavator buckets, conveyors and other applications, recently released a report on optimizing total cost of ownership on payloadcarrying earthmoving equipment. According to the company, while most equipment owners understand that total cost of ownership is more important than just the purchase price, many don't realize that they could actively reduce their total cost of ownership across earthmoving equipment and trucks by using Loadrite's monitoring and alert features to set benchmarks and measure productivity. Total cost of ownership includes everything from the original purchase price to the daily running and maintenance costs, depreciation, finance and even 'hidden' costs like insurance and employee wages. A machine that appears to be competitively priced may end up costing many thousands more than a higher priced machine because it may deliver lower productivity, increased fuel and maintenance costs and a lower resale value. Total cost of ownership can be measured based on the number of hours a machine works, or based on actual productivity in terms of the amount of material moved. By basing total cost of ownership calculations on the amount of material moved, operators can get a clearer picture of the machine's actual cost of ownership, since a machine that moves more material in less time is likely to generate more income as well as using less fuel per ton of material moved. While it makes sense to choose a fuel efficient, highly productive machine, it is also possible for smart operators to FEBRUARY 2013 • E&MJ; 79