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DuraCluster

We offer THE smart way to upgrade tubular boom clusters and extend the life of your draglines.

DuraCluster
Contact Us

Contact Us

Key contact

Chris Batten

Director of Sales, Environment and Infrastructure

Perth, Australia

+61 (0) 8 6163 4900 mining-machinery@bmtglobal.com

Extending life, reducing cost

We have used our extensive knowledge of the mining industry, of stress monitoring, materials and equipment engineering to develop DuraCluster, to extend life and reduce repair costs of operational draglines.

This, and improved design modification and repair scheme, dramatically improves the fatigue performance on existing draglines with tubular boom designs. 

Longer life, less downtime, significantly lower cost:
how can DuraCluster improve your operations?

The Problem: The draglines, so essential to many mining operations, experience stresses at joints that can result in endemic fatigue and cracking.  With a boom replacement costing $20 million and three months’ downtime, repair costs become unsustainable. These are the issues that led us to create DuraCluster, dramatically improving performance on existing tubular-boom draglines. Cracking at cluster joints creates these three significant, unsustainable costs:

Cost of crack detection

Visual inspection is difficult due to the complex geometry | The crack must propagate through the chord wall before detection is possible | Substantial crack growth is required before it can be found, which significantly increases the risk of a catastrophic failure

Cost of repair

Poor access for achieving a quality repair to the chord | Coping adds time and cost | Cranage, scaffolding adds to cost | Cutting and replacing windows in lacings increases the potential for failure in the lacing

Cost of replacement and downtime

A single boom replacement can cost an estimated $20 million | Replacement requires a three month machine outage | Boom replacements expose operators to a potentially high risk task with major financial consequences

The DuraCluster Solution

Very easy installation - +/- 1 week per cluster

Cost savings - up to $18M can be made on a major boom repair

Multiple clusters can be modified simultaneously

Significant reduction of stress concentrations

Improved load paths

Dramatically extend the fatigue life of tubular boom and mast structures (Est. 15-20x)

Excellent access for welding ensures all damaged welds are repaired

Reduced maintenance and inspection workloads moving forward

Easier inspection and NDT on the upgraded cluster design

The Procedure

STAGE 1: Attach engineered bracing to maintain geometry.

STAGE 2: Remove lacing member ends adjacent to the main chord, repair surface of main chord to pass 100% UT inspection.

STAGE 3: Prepare lacing ends and main chord surface for welding.

STAGE 4: Weld new members

STAGE 5: Complete post weld actions, apply corrosion protection coatings.
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DuraCluster brochure

Dragline Boom Cluster Modification

Bmt Duracluster 071520

About

With DuraCluster offering the highest levels of lifecycle support and optimization of removal capacity at the lowest cost per tonne, our dragline design scheme is one of the industry’s most sustainable mining solutions.

Thought Leadership

Maintenance Optimisation

BMT's Ryan Sharp and Arnold Williams highlight how technological innovations can help optimise and reduce maintenance and inspection workloads.

Considerations in Conveyor Design and Maintenance

Conveyors are the arteries of a bulk material handling facility. High levels of availability are a prerequisite for the smooth running of an operation, while downtime will have a disproportionally disruptive effect