Start your journey
towards 92% best in class
conveyor availability

Mining industry professionals face many challenges. Operations and site managers need to improve availability and output, while maintenance and engineering managers need to find solutions to everyday reliability problems so they can meet operational targets. Shifting from conventional open pulley bearings to sealed bearing solutions can help achieve these goals and take conveyor availability up to 90% and beyond.

Insights and inspiration

The solution that improves
conveyor uptime

Of all mining conveyor parts, pulley bearings have the highest failure rate. Replacing open bearings with the SKF Three-barrier solution improves conveyor uptime and can save thousands of dollars.

The availability challenge 

Top performers in mining can reach over 92% conveyor availability. If you're falling short of this figure, the upgraded SKF Three-barrier solution for conveyor pulley bearings can help.

Why conveyors in mining only
work part-time

Four out of ten mining plants are running below 80% conveyor availability. Changing to the SKF Three-barrier solution can make a huge difference to a problematic asset.

Cut grease time and costs

Open bearings on conveyor pulleys need to be re-greased every week. The upgraded SKF Three-barrier solution, on the other hand, gives excellent bearing protection and extends greasing intervals to several months.

Easier than you thought: improving mining conveyor OEE

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and availability are the most important KPIs in the mining industry, but many simple processes that can improve them still aren't widely implemented. Explore our insight study and discover the steps you can take.

The SKF Three-barrier solution could triple the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) rate of your conveyors. Talk to one of our expert team today and find out what changing to an upgraded solution may be worth to your operations.

How much could you save? Try our handy calculators to find out

Return on investment 

Savings in grease costs

How it works

How the solution works

1. SKF mining-specific housing with SKF Taconite sealing or other contact seal

2. Housing cavity grease (SKF recommends SKF LGGB 2 biodegradable grease)

3. Sealed SKF Explorer spherical roller bearing

The expert view

Keith Meyers at SKF Group talks about common challenges such as dust, dirt, wet conditions and poor lubrication, and explains why the SKF Three-barrier solution works so well.

Three levels of protection

Since 2007, we have offered the SKF Three-barrier solution for conveyor pulley applications. The solution protects the pulley bearing from contamination and insufficient lubrication; the two main reasons why bearings fail early. Start your journey towards higher conveyor uptime.

Case Study

Bearing protection in action

Bearing service life doubled and relubrication intervals extended by eight times. The SKF Three-barrier solution is making a real difference to this iron ore mine in Australia.