Modern Mining December 2024

MATERIALS HANDLING

Kal Tire’s solutions target safety and lower costs By Nelendhre Moodley

The cost of tyres for giant mining equipment is among the top ten outlays, with miners turning to specialists, such as Canadian tyre expert Kal Tire, for innovative tyre solutions, Kal Tire’s Mining Tire group manager: mining technology solutions, Christian Erdelyi tells Modern Mining .

K al Tire’s pioneering solutions not only help to reduce costs but also to enhance safety in the mining environment. Tyres, an integral component in the mining mix, carry a hefty price-tag. According to Erdelyi, a 63-inch tyre, for instance, costs in the region of $60 000-$80 000 per tyre for a rigid dump truck such as a CAT 797, which requires six tyres. “Apart from the massive price tag, some tyres have limited availability, which means that miners are eager to extend the life of existing tyres as far as possible.” Speaking to Modern Mining from the company stand at Electra Mining, where Kal Tire showcased its range of its innovative offerings, Erdelyi highlighted the benefits of Kal Tire’s KalPRO TireSight autonomous tyre inspection offering, which combines thermography (thermal imaging cameras) and artificial intelligence (AI) from its partner Pitcrew AI, to monitor OTR tyres in mining operations. The autonomous tyre inspection solution is a game-changer for the industry as it assists mines to keep trucks running safely and productively while delivering the best in tyre performance. Explains Erdelyi: “TireSight inspection stations are placed in strategic positions on the mine, such as on the haul road, rom pad or close to fuelling stations, to ensure that equipment inspection takes place at regular intervals. TireSight helps with

remote tyre monitoring and identifies aspects such as hotspots on a tyre, which signal a damaged tyre, and allows the operator to schedule corrective maintenance actions. It is important to understand that hotspots in tyres can lead to larger damage on the machine from tyre fires to rapid deflation, which translates to a larger rebuild cost and longer downtime for that machine. Further to this, we have a team of condition monitoring analysts that work with the output of the system and of our Tire & Operation Management System (TOMS) to ensure the health of the tyre at all times.” Since the introduction of TireSight in 2021, it has since been launched into 12 mine sites globally, including Canada, Chile and Colombia, though not yet in South Africa. The tyre service provider is currently in talks with several local customers, with expectations that the TireSight system will soon be implemented at one of the mines. Unpacking the advantages of TireSight, Erdelyi points to a mine in Chile, which adopted the technology in 2022, at a time when trucks were required to leave the production area for tyre inspections; explaining that with the adoption of TireSight downtime for tyre inspection has been reduced by a whopping 20%, which translates to increased time in the production line. “Before Kal Tire’s autonomous tyre inspection was set up, each

26  MODERN MINING  www.modernminingmagazine.co.za | DECEMBER 2024