Coal Operations Support
With more than 30 years of project and operations learnings, Sedgman Limited is a trusted source of technical services and advice to coal mining operations.
Meeting client needs with superior processing and materials handling technologies has placed us at the forefront of new global mining development.
We continue to partner with clients - large and small - to provide reliable, safe and cost-effective solutions to their processing needs.
Building these lasting and mutually profitable relationships is the key to our repeat and referral business.
Through the way that we process each experience back into continuous improvement, we have perfected technologies and techniques to protect and enhance the whole of life value of our clients' plant investments.
Because we design, construct, own and operate major handling and preparation plants, a critical mass of experienced operating staff is readily accessible to clients - backed by the expertise of our centralised professional engineering staff in our Brisbane head office and the regional coordination of services by our project delivery managers in Beijing, China; Santiago, Chile; and Johannesburg, South Africa.
We have the knowledge that lifts the benchmark for services to the coal mining industry.
As part of the Coal Operations Group, our support team assists clients to optimise their existing plant operations.
Support team members have extensive specialty experience in their fields of expertise, underpinned by 'cutting edge' monitoring systems.
Having the oversight of their independent, experienced eyes can significantly reduce operational risk, increase throughput and improve efficiencies. This capability is available to clients either through structured regular Sedgman audits, or call-out ‘hot issue' remediation.
Our commitment to continuous improvement, research and development gives clients the certainty that our project solutions incorporate the latest, most innovative and, most importantly, reliable technologies.
Clients also have the comfort of knowing that our support team will reach into the vast reserves of experience, resources and 'know-how' of the other specialist groups within Sedgman to find the best for project solution.
Some of the ways we assist clients are through:
- Coal quality and resource analysis
- Routine metallurgy inspections/site visits
- Value management reviews - efficiency, costs, operating practices, new technology
- Metallurgical process audits, troubleshooting and de-bottlenecking investigations
- Relief supervision
- Electrical and controls system support
- Training of client operators to coal competency standards
- Developing and implementing safety systems
Operations Support Services include:
Maintenance Strategy Development
Sedgman ensures that plant and equipment are operated and maintained to a standard which allows the availability and reliability targets to be achieved without compromising safety or the environment. Clearly-defined, regularly reviewed maintenance strategies will be assigned to critical equipment and will utilise the best mix of predictive, preventive and run to failure activities.
Benefits
- Improved risk management practices
- Improved knowledge of equipment failure behaviour
- Improved maintenance management practices
- Optimum allocation of maintenance resources
- Reduced cost strategy
- Elimination of unnecessary maintenance tasks
- Optimisation of maintenance tasks
- Improved maintenance systems and procedures
Processes
- Development
- Implementation
- Management
- Evaluation (Reliability engineering)
Reliability Engineering
The equipment reliability framework across Sedgman's CHPP operations is based on proactive maintenance techniques such as failed component analysis, repetitive failure analysis, root cause analysis and maintenance strategy reviews. These techniques come together to form a failure investigation methodology. This methodology focuses on incident evaluation, incident data analysis, corrective action implementation and corrective action control. Sedgman's Maintenance Support Group follows continuous improvement principles described by an asset management policy that supports the successful implementation of this methodology.
Benefits
- Improved maintenance strategy
- Improved equipment performance
- Reduced equipment and plant downtime
- Reduced maintenance spend
- Improved equipment and plant availability
- Prolonged equipment life
- Increased equipment and plant productivity
Processes
- Equipment analysis
- Equipment taxonomy
- Data collection
- Predictive maintenance techniques (CM)
- CMMS (Equipment maintenance database)
- Reliability database (Equipment breakdown database)
- Failure reporting
- Reliability analysis
- Data analysis
- Identification of critical areas
- Prioritisation of critical areas
- Failure investigations and defect analysis
- Analysis of critical items
- Root cause analysis (Apollo RCA / Six Sigma FMEA)
- Reliability improvements
- Corrective actions
- Change management process
- Improvements implementation
- Monitoring of implemented actions
Processing
Sedgman has built a reputation as the premier supplier of coal processing knowledge. We use this combined global processing knowledge to optimise processing outcomes for each of the coal plants we operate and to assist other operators to improve their operations through consultancy agreements. In a symbiotic relationship the processing knowledge gained by our design, construction, commissioning and operations sections assists in a continuous improvement spiral to give improved processing outcomes and the best possible value for money to our clients.
Benefits
- Improved circuit and plant efficiency and optimisation
- Maximising resource recovery
- Reduced costs by improving efficiency
- Better understanding of coal resources
Processes
- Process audits
- Yield improvement recommendations using limn modelling and in-house software
- Coordination of plant audits and sampling regimes
- Control logic development
- SCORS implementation (integrates existing production data systems, providing an improved capacity to monitor and report on production data. SCORS is a valuable tool for both site staff and off-site support as it can assist a control room operator to run a stockpile quality report as well as remotely monitor KPI dashboards of operating sites around the world).
- Circuit and individual equipment efficiency and performance analysis
- Running in-plant trials of new equipment, e.g. reflux classifier trials
- Circuit troubleshooting
- Change management process
- Improvements implementation
- Monitoring of implemented actions
- Process control loop tuning
- Process operator training
Electrical Engineering
Sedgman's electrical support has a common interest in project excellence. The team has the experience, skills, and capabilities to combine the latest technologies with tested methodologies, in supporting on-site operations. From continuous improvement initiatives, to complex plant upgrades, the electrical team works closely with our process and maintenance groups to ensure a smooth, trouble free transition from design to delivery, through to operating and maintaining the plant.
The E&C Support Team has access to specialist discipline and personnel with plant-specific knowledge from across the wide Sedgman group on an as-required basis.
Benefits
- Independent electrical audits to ensure compliance with regulations and acts
- Continuous improvement of electrical performance through technical and training support of operators and maintainers
- Support site operations with scope definition and costs estimates for upgrade projects
- Problem investigations and implementation of solutions with onsite electrical and instrumentation including cost benefit analysis
- Continuous improvement initiatives utilising change management of plant and controls
- Fiscal Year capital works budgets development
- Management and improvement of equipment specifications for CHPP fixed plant
- Management of equipment and assets procurement
- Performance of independent quality audits on works completed by external electrical maintenance and service providers
- Performance of independent audits and inspections of CHPP electrical practices, strategies, facilities as required
- Electrical detail design and project implementation
- Electrical drawings, creation, auditing and updating to as-built status
- Commissioning assistance
- Predictive maintenance of electrical plant utilising thermography and PDMA reporting
- Power system studies - fault, load flow and arc flash
Processes
- Equipment Predictive Analysis
- Thermography testing and PDMA reporting
- Data Collection Analysis
- Citect trending of plant data and parameters with identification & prioritisation of critical items
- Failure Investigations and Defect Analysis
- Working hand-in-hand with mechanical and process support
- Change Management Process and Documentation
- Improvements and implementation with ongoing monitoring of actions
Control Systems
Sedgman's control engineers have extensive, hands-on experience in designing, operating and maintaining, coal preparation plant SCADA and PLC systems. This translates to experts who explore and evaluate the technical opportunities for each operation; to create balanced solutions for innovation, operability, maintainability, operating costs, and capital costs based on specific needs of the client and project. We ensure the end solution is fit for purpose, reliable and documented so that is can be supported into the future.
Benefits
- Plant SCADA operator training
- SCADA and PLC modifications, optimization and improvements
- Controls system audits of SCADA and PLC code
- Optimized plant sequencing to reduce start-up and downtime
- Control system alarm review and analysis
- Off-site support to resolve real-time issues with remote login from Brisbane
- Design & development of new PLC and SCADA for plant upgrades
- Commissioning of new equipment
- Control system network management of information and SCADA data
- Control system program backups provided with proven methodology and implementation
- SCADA, computer hardware and software management of upgrades and version control
- System drawings and documentation maintenance
- Specialization in Allen-Bradley PLC and Citect SCADA software packages
Processes
- Data Analysis
- SCADA trending with identification and prioritisation of critical items
- Change Management Process & Documentation Control
- Improvements & Implementation with ongoing Monitoring of Actions