Maintenance of the company's own machinery at Terrafame takes place in E. Hartikainen Oy’s own workshop in the field. The drill hammers are sent to Epiroc’s workshop in the Helsinki area for service, but workshop manager Tero Leskinen and his staff take care of everything else, from drill bits to drill rigs. In the big hall, two older Epiroc drill rigs undergo 20 000-hour service. Leskinen opens the door to a hall where one of his fitters is placing a new tip on a worn drill bit.
He describes Epiroc’s equipment as durable and easy to keep in good working condition through regular scheduled service.
The conditions at Terrafame are demanding, with large temperature swings, humidity, vibrations and varying rock types. In the past, hose damage to the drill rigs was a recurring problem in the winter, but electric lines have largely replaced liquid hoses on the newer models, and that has significantly reduced the amount of technical failures. Now, we can keep the machines up and running all year, with maintenance at regular intervals.”
He sees the low fuel consumption of the SmartROC CL as a trump card to keep costs and emissions down.
“Fuel consumption is becoming an increasingly important issue for the future. In the long run, we can assume that drill rigs will also be powered by electricity,” says Leskinen.
He and E. Hartikainen Oy know where they can find nickel and cobalt sulfide for the batteries.