Annual award recognizes Detour Gold for strategy to achieve top quartile availability
AUSTIN, TEXAS (October 5, 2018)—Emerson has presented its annual Reliability Program of the Year award to Detour Gold at the 2018 Emerson Global Users Exchange in San Antonio, Texas. The award recognizes Detour Gold’s outstanding reliability effort at its Detour Lake mine in Ontario, Canada. One of the largest gold-producing mines in Canada—with reserves totaling nearly 16 million ounces—Detour Lake has leveraged its reliability strategies to deliver total availability for 2017/2018 that is 22 percent above Detour Gold’s targets.
Emerson’s Bruce Hawkins (left) presents representatives from Detour Gold with the Reliability Program of the Year award during the 2018 Emerson Global Users Exchange in San Antonio, Texas.
To begin working toward Detour Gold’s corporate vision of 92 percent uptime for the 24x7x365 mine, the team developed a reliability recognition program shared across the organization. The program focuses on predictive and proactive maintenance throughout the plant with key focus in three key areas: lubrication, vibration, and conveyor health. To support these strategies, Detour Gold grew its reliability team from one team member to twelve in just five years.
“The reliability department is recognized as a value added to the process plant and Detour Gold Corporation,” said Donald Prevost, reliability specialist for Detour Gold. “Overall cost avoidances realized not only cover all the costs of operating the department; they can further be leveraged to pursue other reliability initiatives.”
The reliability team performs predictive maintenance on all applicable equipment and includes post-maintenance testing using predictive technologies to verify top-quality maintenance. As a result, schedule compliance has increased by 12 percent, and overall unscheduled work, a critical marker for the efficiency of reliability programs, has decreased by 16 percent.
“As plants around the world are beginning their digital transformation journey, Detour Gold has set an example for how to drive sustainable reliability as part of that process,” said Thomas Waun, general manager of Emerson’s Operational Certainty Consulting group. “Driving a strong reliability culture with the right personnel and equipment is a critical step on the path for organizations making the journey to Top Quartile performance.”
The reliability team developed a comprehensive lubrication program, installed critical online vibration monitoring equipment with Emerson’s AMS 6500 Machinery Health Monitor, AMS 2140 Machinery Health Analyzer, and AMS Machinery Health Manager, and developed a system for properly training technicians to monitor and maintain approximately 2.4 miles of conveyor belt that are critical to operations.
Established in 1989 to recognize companies and reliability teams that work to continually deliver the best reliability and maintenance practices globally. Nominated alongside Detour Gold were Bayer Crop Science in Iowa and Sadara Chemical Company of Saudi Arabia.
For more information on Emerson’s Operational Certainty Consulting, visit www.Emerson.com/OpCertCon
About Emerson
Emerson (NYSE: EMR), headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri (USA), is a global technology and engineering company providing innovative solutions for customers in industrial, commercial, and residential markets. Our Emerson Automation Solutions business helps process, hybrid, and discrete manufacturers maximize production, protect personnel and the environment while optimizing their energy and operating costs. Our Emerson Commercial and Residential Solutions business helps ensure human comfort and health, protect food quality and safety, advance energy efficiency, and create sustainable infrastructure. For more information visit Emerson.com.