POWERING MAINTENANCE THE RIGHT WAY

AUSTRALIAN POWER EQUIPMENT IS WORKING WITH MINERS TO ALIGN HIGH-VOLTAGE MAINTENANCE STRATEGIES WITH THE REALITIES OF AN INCREASINGLY ELECTRIFIED INDUSTRY.

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As electrification surges and high-voltage assets are pushed harder for longer, traditional reactive maintenance models are giving way to more strategic, lifecycle-driven methods. Australian Mining sat down with the Andrew Cockbain and Abby Crawford, co-directors of Australian Power Equipment (APE), a leading provider of low-, medium- and high-voltage power equipment across the resources, infrastructure and power generation sectors, to discuss how operations are rethinking maintenance for high-voltage mining assets.

How has maintenance evolved in mining over recent years?

Cockbain: Maintenance in mining has shifted significantly from a largely reactive function to a far more strategic, lifecycle-based approach.

Historically, maintenance often focused on responding to failures as they occurred. Today, with increasing electrification, higher utilisation rates and greater safety and compliance requirements, that approach is no longer sustainable.

Modern maintenance strategies are now closely linked to safety, uptime, regulatory compliance and cost certainty. Asset owners are looking at how equipment performs over its entire operating life, not just how quickly it can be repaired when something goes wrong.

In high-voltage environments, maintenance isn’t just about keeping equipment running; it’s about understanding how every component performs over time under real operating conditions. When assets are specified, tested and maintained with that full lifecycle in mind, you significantly reduce unplanned downtime and safety exposure.