Maintenance and Risk Reduction in Modern Mining

In the demanding environments of modern-day mining, maintaining safety, efficiency, and equipment reliability is not just a priority – it’s a requirement. As mining operations shift toward electrification and automation, to reduce the risk to personnel, new challenges emerge. To address these new risks, actions such as streamlining maintenance schedules, and introducing machine health monitoring strategies are being taken to increase the lifespan of critical machinery.

At Custom Fluidpower (CFP), we specialise in solutions that make this evolution smoother – particularly for mines where traditional equipment was previously excluded from the benefits of advanced hydraulics and controls, due to safety certification limitations. Now, with Australian-certified electrohydraulic components, we’re helping operators transform both new and legacy machinery.

Electrification in Hard Rock Mining: A Maintenance Opportunity

The push to electrify underground fleets is reshaping hard rock mining. Electrically driven equipment reduces emissions and lowers ventilation costs, but it also demands highly integrated electrohydraulic systems to strive for efficiency, fine control, and battery longevity.

The most effective hydraulic system solutions are purpose-built to reduce energy draw and improve compatibility with battery electric vehicles (BEVs). By optimising hydraulic flows, these tailored systems contribute to longer battery life and smoother integration with electrically operated machines, from jumbo drill rigs to electric LHDs.

Automation and Hydraulic Monitoring: Enhancing Control

As automation becomes more prevalent across mine sites, the ability to monitor hydraulic performance in real-time is crucial. Customised manifolds and control systems can be configured using smart sensors to integrate directly with automated machinery, enabling:

• Predictive maintenance
• Remote diagnostics
• Synchronised operation between machines

These features reduce downtime and enhance system responsiveness, allowing site operators to confidently scale up automation without compromising on safety or reliability.

Risk Reduction in Coal Mining: Certified Solutions for High-Methane Environments

Coal mining introduces a specific set of challenges – especially in gaseous, explosive environments where electrical equipment must meet stringent safety requirements. Many electrohydraulic systems were traditionally excluded from these operations due to the lack of certified electronic components, resulting in a sub-par system being used for machine control.

CFP offers electrically certified ATEX/IECEx coils and components, engineered and approved for use in high-risk underground coal mines. These certifications now allow equipment like directional drill rigs used for gas drainage to benefit from:

• Custom manifolds that reduce hydraulic hose count
• Certified electronics that integrate seamlessly
• Significant reduction in maintenance workload
• Efficiency gains from electrohydraulic valves

The Power of Manifolding: Reduce Hoses, Reduce Headaches

Consider this: A single underground drill rig might carry 50+ hydraulic hoses. Within Australian regulations, each hose requires registration, regular inspection, and replacement – posing a logistical burden for maintenance teams, especially in confined and high-risk areas.

By redesigning systems with CFP manifolds, clients have reported eliminating large numbers of hoses, dramatically reducing:

• Oil leak risks
• Downtime from hose failure
• Maintenance tracking complexity

One coal mine customer saw a complete reduction in their underground hose-related incidents after switching to the CFP manifold system – drastically reducing their scheduled maintenance regime outlay. 

Redesigning Legacy Equipment: Breathe New Life into Old Systems

Many mining operations rely on existing electrohydraulic systems that have performed reliably – but are now outdated and labour-intensive to maintain. They may also require components that are no longer readily available. Instead of full replacement, CFP offers redesign and retrofit services that bring legacy machines up to modern standards, while using more available components to reduce downtime.

Through custom designs, for example using manifolds with certified IECx coils, we give equipment a new lease on life – making them safer, easier to service, and more compatible with today’s expectations for automation and environmental performance.

A New Standard for Maintenance-Ready Hydraulics

CFP isn’t just a component supplier – we’re collaborators in the mission to minimise downtime, maximise uptime, and improve mine safety. Our solutions reflect what the leading OEMs like Sun Hydraulics, Parker, and others have done – provide informative, forward-thinking design options for a new era of mining.

If you’re managing hydraulic machinery that’s been missing out on recent advances – whether due to certification issues or legacy design – now’s the time to revisit what’s possible.

Ready to Reduce Maintenance Risks?

Can you imagine eliminating 50 hoses from your underground checklist? Imagine a manifold solution that improves safety and saves labour hours. Imagine electronic coils that are certified, off-the-shelf, readily available to be tailored to your application.

Contact Custom Fluidpower to discover how our customised hydraulic systems can help your mining operations transition safely and efficiently into the next generation of performance and reliability.