Facing tough challenges

The words “taken for granted” are usually associated with people complaining that they’re not being respected for their contributions to a relationship. Spouses (usually female) use them, employees use them, and even parents use them, but rarely does one hear them used in conjunction with mining equipment.

That’s right. Mining equipment, those hulking pieces of iron that are a part of almost every mine site around the world. The fact is, equipment used on any mine site is second only in importance to people and products, yet it is the most unsung hero in the makeup of many mining operations.

Ask any mine superintendent what’s the biggest concern about running a mine (after safety) and most likely he or she will say “equipment failures” and ‘downtime.” And, as all mine owners and operators know, production is key to success. Quite simply, without working equipment, profits slip away.

One company that truly knows the real value of working equipment is Hewitt Equipment Limited, a Caterpillar dealer handling many mining customers in Quebec and throughout Atlantic Canada.

Based in Montreal since its inception in 1952, Hewitt is a family owned and operated full-service dealership with nearly 2000 employees working from approximately 40 branches in Quebec and Eastern Canada. It’s a large team with a well-established history in mining, both surface and underground, with involvement in numerous mining and earthmoving projects** over the past 56 years.

Not only does the company sell and service heavy mining equipment, it also provides assistance in almost every step in the mining process from helping identify fleet sizes and vehicle configurations through modeling software, to assistance in feasibility studies with production cost analyses, and finally with complete turn-key offerings with equipment, and total product support solutions.

With a fleet of more than 375 service trucks equipped with everything from the smallest of ring seals to large hydraulic cylinders and hoses, the company has strategically placed itself throughout the provinces to respond almost immediately to desperate calls for help.

As Hewitt’s Mining Manager, William Harvey, says: “Service par excellence is our number one priority. After all, it’s one thing to sell a piece of equipment to a customer but if it isn’t well supported, it’s no good to either of us so helping ensure high availability is more important to us than the initial sale.”

Proof that the company really gets involved with its mining customers far beyond the sale of a piece of equipment is clearly shown by its involvement with Osisko Exploration of Montreal and the development of its Malartic gold project. Harvey says that Hewitt has been involved in the project for more than a year and a half from production studies and fleet simulations, to the current mine site preparation.

All Caterpillar machines currently working on site have service agreements in place to ensure high levels of availability in this important developmental phase of the project.

In addition to the on-going work in Malartic, Hewitt was also selected to be the equipment supplier of the underground LHD fleet at Agnico Eagle’s new Goldex Project in Val d’Or, Quebec, consisting of R2900G XTRA’s with a capacity of 20 tonnes in tramming mode.

“Not only did we supply the equipment, we also assigned a project manager from our technical services department to assist our account managers with the delivery logistics, including the disassembly process involving the cutting of the machine, transporting the pieces to the mine, lowering them through the shaft, machine welding, reassembling, and final commissioning,” says Harvey.

Further proof of the company’s respect from the mining community came when Xstrata recently awarded Hewitt the supply contract for machines at its Perserverance project in Matagami, Quebec. This fleet consists of several R2900 LHD’s and AD45B haul trucks. Harvey said the company also assigned a Project Manager to this project to again assist with implementing the delivery, services, and technical support in preparation for production.

As mentioned at the outset, Hewitt Equipment Limited of Montreal knows the mining industry very well and through its years of sales and service, has been fortunate to play a major role in all its mining projects … and to help ensure that mining machines are never “taken for granted.”