KEMESS MINE
Ron Clarke and Valley Forge & Bolt have developed a superior bolting system and we have experienced very positive results using his company’s bolts.
We at Kemess Mine were experiencing a major amount of downtime and production availability as a result of some flanges in our ball mills not being mated really well. This was causing us to break bolts in the flanges almost daily. As a result we would lose at least four hours of production each time we were forced to install new bolts in these flanges. This down time and production loss was costing our company a minimum of $9,000.00 per hour. Over a period of two years this was adding up quickly and the problem was getting worse. We were also increasing our hydro bill as a result because of the increased power drain each time we started the mills back up. We have four 12,000 horsepower mills and each time the motors are started our costs skyrocket. We contacted many different companies and were trying all sorts of fixes but were unsuccessful in curing our problem.
It was after some very testy experiences we contacted Valley Forge & Bolt and were instructed in the fine art of bolting technology. I did not think I could ever learn this much about bolts. After some very careful measurements being taken and an extensive study of the many different strains that were occurring with our mills we were offered the chance to try a fix up our mills. This was successful but not permanent. I must say that Valley Forge did not give up and were determined to help us cure these bolt breakages. We are very grateful for this persistence. Today we have one of the two pesky mills working just fine and will have the other one in fine shape soon also. We highly recommend Ron’s company and their technology, as a fix for any serious bolting problems being experienced no mater how big or small. Ron has helped us to save over twenty million dollars with his inventions and technological wizardry and should be given the recognition he deserves.
Bravo! Ron Clarke, Bravo! Valley Forge & Bolt. We really do appreciate all that you have done and are doing for us.
Give this man a hand!
Best regards,
Mill Maintenance Planner
KUMTOR
I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know how well the Maxbolts are working for us. We changed out the entire regrind mill with the M39 Maxbolts and we were able to change all of the bolts at the same time. We went from breaking several bolts per day (as many as 16 in one day) to not breaking a single bolt in the past 60 days; a great testament to the effectiveness of your Maxbolts.
Our ball mill, which we had to bore the bolt holes to accept the 2¼ inch Maxbolts, was a little bit of story. We were only able to get about 15 holes bored per shut down. During this time we continued to break bolts at about 10 to 12 per week. We finally took a three day shut down because of some other maintenance needs and were able to get all of the holes bored and a complete set of Maxbolts installed on the flange. We are now averaging 1.3 bolts broken per week. The flange on the ball mill is not a good fit, there is some separation at the flange joint and the center flange is out of round by .800 inches. We have been breaking large numbers of bolts in this flange since it has gone into operation. To lower this breakage problem to where it is now is nothing short of remarkable.
During the past eight years, we have lost millions because of down time due to broken bolts. Your product has come through as advertised and although it won’t completely stop the problem, the Maxbolts will certainly make the problem less costly and much more manageable.
If you have anyone seeking an endorsement for using these Maxbolts, please feel free to have them contact me.
Mill Maintenance Coordinator
