How Mining Firms Rely On Quality Mill Line Fasteners

In an industry where everything is oversized and larger than life, you wonder whether tiny elements like a fastener will really make a difference. The off highway dump trucks used in mining are the largest in the world and the mine mills see a massive amount of flow every day. Interestingly, both can be completely put out of service by a bolt breakage. Even the smallest element can cause millions of dollars in losses when a problem with mill line fasteners is not looked after.

Typical Issues

The ball mill can be a serious source of problems related to fasteners. When the flanges in the ball mill do not fit breakage can become a frequent occurrence. This results in the line being shut down for a period of time while the bolt is replaced. Industry experts have stated that shutting down a mill line in a mining operation can result in thousands of dollars in down time every hour.

In order to reduce the occurrence of bolt breakage higher quality and specifically manufactured mill line fasteners must be used. Often load indicating fasteners will allow the maintenance staff to tighten the bolts to an exact number, resulting is less strain during production.

There have been various testimonies recording that the installation of load indicating fasteners in a ball mine have reduced or even eliminated the breakage that was so common beforehand. In some cases this has resulted in millions of dollars in savings for the mine in question.

Regrind mills are another area of the mine that typically experiences fastener issues. Again, bolts are the main culprit and a switch over to load indicating fasteners is a recommended solution. Often a shut down is needed to get all of the mill line fasteners replaced, but high quality bolts can effectively reduce down time in this mill as well as in other areas of a mining operation.

Mill line fasteners may be small in the scheme of things but these little pieces play a very big role in mining operations. An experienced fastener distributor will be able to help mining firms to solve typical issues in the ball mill, the regrind mill and any other location in the mine that involves fasteners and fastener failure.