Transense Technologies’ Translogik division has won a contract, through its Ghana partner WATS (West African Tyre Services), to supply 41 iTrack II mining tyre monitoring systems for haul trucks at Nordgold’s Bissa mine in Burkina Faso.

These systems are to be supplied on a rental and service basis via WATS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rana Motors & Metal Works Engineering Co. Transense said: “This method allows mining companies to benefit from the productivity gains and overhead savings provided by using the system without any of the associated capital cost while providing Translogik with a recurring revenue stream.”

The iTrack II system provides fast, accurate, reliable real-time data on the condition of the tyres, combined with live tracking of vehicle location and status, according to Transense. “The company’s 24/7 control room monitors the pressures and temperatures live, and this information can, for example, be used to ensure tyres do not exceed critical heat thresholds, detect incorrect load distributions, predict suspension failures, eliminate manual tyre pressure checks and much more.”

All of these benefits increase health and safety as well as reducing maintenance and downtime, which maximises the hours a truck is working (on-road truck working hours), which directly correlates to an increase in production, according to Transense. Existing iTrack users have reported increases in tyre life of up to 30% and fuel savings of up to 3%, the company said.

Vibi Chandra, Director, Sales & Services Director, OTR Tyres, WATS, said: “The considerable advantages that Nordgold have seen at their sister mine, SOMITA (Taparko), where we installed iTrack in May 2018, have persuaded Nordgold to adopt the system at Bissa.

“As we have previously stated, West Africa is a region with dozens of mines and hundreds of haul trucks and it is our intention to introduce our new enhanced service, including iTrack, to our existing portfolio of mines as well as other mines across the region.”

Graham Storey, CEO of Transense, said: “We are very pleased to have added another Nordgold-owned mine in West Africa to our growing list of iTrack users. WATS are a well-established and highly regarded tyre service provider in West Africa and with their depth of contacts we are hopeful of an accelerated rate of adoption moving forward.”

Bissa, which was launched in January 2013, produced 195,700 oz of gold in 2017.