Maintenance represents a significant proportion of the overall operating costs in the mining industry. Despite the large cost of maintenance, management has only given passing attention to the optimization of the maintenance process. The focus has remained on the optimization of mine planning and operations where all the low hanging fruit was picked years ago. Recent initiatives in the field of mobile equipment maintenance have been in the area of remote condition monitoring. In order for an advanced maintenance technology to succeed it must have a strong philosophical basis and the supporting hardware and software infrastructure. A high bandwidth radio network, reliable interfaces, and a real-time maintenance management system will enable remote condition monitoring systems. Explores reliability centered maintenance, remote condition monitoring, and the use of production and maintenance data for real-time interactive maintenance management. Practical implicationsMaintenance related costs account for approximately 30 to 50 percent of direct mining costs. A significant amount of energy has been spent analyzing and optimizing key processes throughout the mine. However, very little attention has been focused towards the optimization of the maintenance process. Maintenance is the largest controllable cost in the mining industry. Significant cost reductions and improvements in equipment reliability and performance will be achieved through the implementation of rationalized proactive maintenance approaches. Condition monitoring has the potential to identify problems prior to failure. Early detection of equipment degradation will enable repairs to be scheduled thereby reducing costs and interruptions to production. The implementation of proactive programs or technologies in a reactive environment involves a significant amount of change to the business practices and processes within the maintenance and operations groups. A strong realtime maintenance management system such as Modular Mining Systems' INTELLIMINE1 will facilitate the implementation of a proactive maintenance program.

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