There is an old lesson in mining that is worth repeating: the cheapest machine is not always the cheapest machine to own.
After many years of working with mining and construction equipment suppliers and users in Nigeria, I have seen this mistake made more than once. Buyers often focus heavily on the initial price of a machine and, in the process, overlook what it will cost to keep that machine working productively over its lifetime.
A machine may arrive at the mine at an attractive price, with impressive horsepower, bucket capacity and production figures. Everything looks good on paper. But six months down the line, when a critical component fails, the questions suddenly become different:
Who is going to fix it? Where is the spare part? How long will it take to arrive? Is there a trained technician available?
These are not questions to ask after the machine has broken down. They should be answered before the purchase order is signed.
Mining equipment is not simply an asset sitting on your balance sheet. It is a production tool. When an excavator is down, it is not digging. When a wheel loader is waiting for a hydraulic component, it is not loading. When a haul truck suffers a transmission failure, it is not moving material.
And the cost of that downtime can quickly become much bigger than the price of the failed component itself. You lose production, revenue and valuable operating hours while other costs continue to accumulate.
Nigeria’s mining industry continues to attract equipment manufacturers, dealers and suppliers from different parts of the world. That competition is good for the industry because it gives miners more choices. But more choices also mean that buyers have to do their homework.
Some equipment suppliers come into the market with attractive prices and impressive specifications, but without a strong local maintenance structure, adequate spare-parts support or enough trained technicians to support the machines after delivery.
This is where miners need to look beyond the sales presentation. The real test of an equipment supplier is not how quickly they can deliver a machine.
It is how quickly they can get that machine back into production when something goes wrong.
Before committing to any equipment brand, I would strongly recommend asking the supplier to provide clear answers to the following:
What is the complete preventive maintenance schedule?
What is the estimated maintenance cost per operating hour?
Which spare parts are stocked locally, and what are the typical lead times?
How many trained technicians are available in Nigeria?
What is the emergency breakdown response arrangement?
What exactly does the warranty cover, and what are the exclusions?
Can the supplier provide references from existing Nigerian customers?
Most importantly, don’t take everything at face value simply because it appears in a brochure.
A machine’s published horsepower, bucket capacity or production figures may be perfectly genuine. The bigger question is whether those figures reflect the conditions in your mine.
Real-world production depends on many factors: material density, operator skill, cycle time, haul distance, ground conditions, bucket fill factor, machine configuration and the way the equipment is actually being operated.
So, when a supplier presents an impressive production figure, ask a simple question:
“Under what conditions was this figure achieved?”
Then go a step further. Ask the supplier to provide field evidence from operations that are similar to yours. That is a much better way of judging whether a machine will deliver the productivity you are expecting.
Before your next equipment purchase, don’t ask only: “How much is the machine?” Ask the more important question: “What will it cost me to keep this machine productive for the next 5,000 or 10,000 operating hours?” That is the real equipment question.
The best machine is not necessarily the one with the lowest purchase price. It is the one that can deliver reliable production, backed by readily available parts, competent people and a maintenance system that keeps it working. At the end of the day, mining is about production. Equipment is only valuable when it is producing.
Remember: you don’t make money simply because you own a machine. You make money when that machine is working. Buy uptime. Buy support. Buy productivity.
*Engr. Tokunbo Aregbesola can be reached on
08033337644
