The Victor Mine team continues to break barriers in its efforts to work towards environmental sustainability and best practice throughout the mine. One method proving valuable to the Victor Mobile Maintenance team is a “kidney looping” oil filtration technique.
The team looks after over 20 pieces of heavy equipment at the mine site. Starting in 2012, the team has put the hydraulic oil used in the mine’s 50- and 100-tonne haul trucks through a system that removes particles and water from the oil. It works similarly to a dialysis machine that’s used to clean toxins from the blood of people whose kidneys have failed, hence the name “kidney looping.”
The project has proved successful, reducing hydraulic fuel use by nearly 20% in 2013, an estimated saving of 24,000 litres on production equipment alone.
The greatest benefit to using the process is extending the life of oils and reducing oil consumption by mobile equipment. The cleansed oil is tested to track how much life is left in the oil, allowing the department to run as efficiently as possible in their oil changes and planned maintenance.
A second added benefit to the kidney looping filtration system is that Victor Mine no longer ships waste oil off site on the winter road. Any waste oil that is created is used in waste oil burners as a heat source around the mine site.
The Victor Mine team has demonstrated innovative and contemporary approaches in its efforts Towards Sustainable Mining and as a direct result reduces our environmental impact and generates an important cost savings to the operation.
The Victor Mine has now successfully progressed into the final phase of the program, adding transmission oil to its kidney looping capabilities and expanding to support equipment as well.