A new equipment storage and maintenance business is set to take the mining world by storm.
Large mining companies require large fleets of machinery to keep their large operations running smoothly. From excavators to haul trucks and everything in between, they can have hundreds of pieces of equipment on-site at any given time.
But not all pieces are needed all the time, and that means companies face a choice: let the equipment sit idle in the yard until they’re ready to use it or sell it and hope they don’t need it later.
Jack Coyle, director of Gritty Contracting, a heavy diesel mechanical and storage company, has come up with another option.
“Anyone who’s in the maintenance industry knows that machinery doesn’t like to sit still,” Coyle told Australian Mining. “The longer they sit, the more problems build up.
“At Gritty, miners can store their machines locally and we’ll maintain them and keep them in good shape for when they’re needed again. We can do short- or long-term storage and can take all types of machinery, including exploration, surface and underground equipment”
Some of Australia’s largest mines are located in the Pilbara and Goldfields regions of Western Australia. But, as Coyle explained, that doesn’t mean the companies are actually based there.
“If an east coast company gets a contract to come work out west, they might have to float their machines back to headquarters when not in use,” he said.
“But with Gritty, they can store their equipment locally in the Goldfields with us.”
This translates to a financial and productivity uptick for the miner.
“If a machine on-site goes down and they have a spare machine ready and waiting, it means that the money and time they would have spent transporting a new one across the country or state is saved,” Coyle said.
“Having machines break down on-site is costly, but the downtime and production loss is what hurts most. We can help with that.”
And Gritty doesn’t just store the machines. The team will also conduct regular maintenance and servicing to ensure the equipment is ready to go whenever it’s needed.
“The customer gets a condition report upon arrival, and from there we regularly run the equipment through its functions so everything works smoothly,” Coyle said.
“If we find something wrong – like an oil leak or electrical fault, for example – we can fix that right away on-site. This prevents the headache of finding out about a fault when you’re trying to load the machine on a float to site.
“We offer general servicing, small-scale repairs, maintenance … anything that will save on logistics for the customer.”
Having grown up in the Goldfields himself, Coyle has seen first-hand the need for this type of storage and maintenance service.
“Driving around the area, you see a lot of these yards just chock-a-block with machinery,” he said. “Some companies can’t work in their own workshops because their yards are so full.
“Storing their machinery with us can give them their space back and also gives them peace of mind that their expensive equipment is safe.”
Gritty takes that safety aspect of its storage seriously. A fully fenced block, a full-time caretaker and security cameras around the site all contribute to keeping the equipment where it’s meant to be.
“Our goal is to keep the machines in turnkey condition,” Coyle said. “That means keeping them always ready to go and keeping on top of any faults that arise. Security plays a big part in that.”
As a WA local, Coyle is proud of Gritty’s role in keeping the mining industry moving.
“We can look after a machine for a whole month for less than the cost of a day’s labour,” he said. “If a customer stores their machinery with us, they can rest assured that it’s in good hands.”
This feature appeared in the March 2024 issue of Australian Mining.
