Late last year, after significant trials at Rio Tinto’s Bell Bay Aluminium refinery in northern Tasmania, Segnut provided a solution that removed the need for dangerous high-energy removal methods and significantly shortened the change-out downtime, improving productivity.

Segnuts were used to secure wear plates on the paste mixers as part of the carbon anode manufacturing process. The securing bolts must be removed from the inside of the machine, making periodic removal of the plates difficult and time-consuming. It also required maintenance personnel to work in confined spaces and make use of high-risk oxy-acetylene cutting. Time was saved on number of personnel, with no observers required and no fire safety watch for hotworks. Being a smelting environment with multiple risks surrounding fumes and hot works in the same place, the elimination of these practices in the refinery was a high safety priority for Bell Bay.

The success of the Bell Bay trial has seen Segnut being added to the site’s inventory management system as a regular supply item for day-to-day operations.

If you would like assistance to improve safety or maintenance productivity, please contact Engentus for further information on its various applications.

Read the full article published on Mining Monthly.