Cutting maintenance costs
How real-time oil monitoring transforms equipment reliability
By Oreflow Australia
Unplanned downtime is one of the biggest headaches in mining and mineral processing. When a critical piece of equipment goes down, the costs immediately escalate with lost production, emergency parts and labour. For most sites, maintenance costs are already one of the largest expenses. The challenge is how to bring them down without cutting corners on reliability.
One of the smartest shifts happening right now is the move from scheduled oil sampling to real-time oil condition monitoring. Instead of waiting for a lab report or sticking to fixed intervals, operators can now see the exact health of their oil and machinery as it changes, 24/7. That’s where solutions like Tan Delta Systems comes in.
The problem with traditional oil sampling
Routine oil sampling has been the standard for decades. It gives useful information, but it has limitations:
- Delay in results: Oil samples need to be taken, sent away and processed. By the time results come back, a problem may already have developed.
- Snapshot only: A sample is just one data point in time. Issues that happen between samples go unseen.
- Costs and logistics: Sending samples to labs across remote mining regions takes time and money.
For modern mines pushing equipment harder and running leaner, these gaps leave too much room for risk.
Real-time oil condition monitoring
Tan Delta’s SENSE-3 real-time oil condition monitoring system solves this problem by continuously tracking oil health inside the machine. Using advanced sensors, it detects even the smallest changes in oil chemistry — oxidation, contamination, wear particles and more.
This means maintenance teams can:
- Act early before a small issue escalates.
- Extend oil life safely instead of relying on conservative change-out intervals.
- Cut sampling and lab costs by reducing or eliminating the need for regular off-site testing.
- Increase equipment uptime by planning maintenance based on actual condition.
Proven results in mining
Mining is a brutal environment for equipment, and that’s why real-world results matter most. Sites using Tan Delta Systems have reported:
- Lower environmental impact through reduced oil waste.
What starts as cost savings also drives productivity, steadier operations and a better safety record.
Why reliability teams are paying attention
Reliability engineers and maintenance planners are under constant pressure to reduce costs and improve performance. Real-time monitoring gives them the data to back up their decisions. The point isn’t to reduce maintenance just to save money. It’s about doing it smarter, with the savings coming as a natural outcome.
With live dashboards and automatic alerts, teams can make decisions quickly and confidently. Instead of firefighting breakdowns, they can focus on planned and efficient work.
What this means for mining
Mining companies already know the cost of unplanned downtime. Every hour a vibrating screen or haul truck sits idle, the losses multiply. Real-time oil condition monitoring with Tan Delta Systems gives the visibility to get ahead of failures, reduce maintenance costs and keep production moving. It lays the foundation for reliability at the core of an operation.
Oreflow is an authorised distributor of Tan Delta Systems. From installation to ongoing support, Oreflow helps mining and industrial sites to get the most from real-time oil condition monitoring technology.