Heavy Equipment Maintenance Software for a Mining Contractor in 2026

The verdict in three sentences

On a gold mine, every hour of unplanned haul truck downtime costs 150,000 to 400,000 FCFA (about 230 to 610 EUR) in lost production and penalties, and a fleet of 85 machines easily accumulates thousands of downtime hours a year. A mining-ready CMMS with servicing triggered by hour meters, spare parts tracking and full offline operation cuts breakdowns and ties up less cash. For a contractor, it is also the availability evidence the mine owner demands.

A technical director's reality in Ouagadougou

The technical director of a contractor based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, manages 85 machines: 40 to 100 tonne rigid haul trucks, hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, dozers, graders and water trucks. They run 20 to 22 hours a day across three gold sites, two of them more than 300 km from the capital, with patchy mobile coverage. The same picture applies to contractors in Ghana, Mali, Western Australia or Nevada.

Typical problems:

• Services at 250, 500, 1,000 and 2,000 hours are tracked in a spreadsheet updated once a week.
• The parts store holds about 2 bn FCFA (around 3 M EUR) of stock, with shortages on filters and tyres and overstock on slow movers.
• Mechanics fill in paper job cards that reach the office 3 to 10 days late.
• The contract with the mine requires 85% mechanical availability or better, with penalties below that.

The modules of a CMMS for mining equipment

Asset register. Each machine has its record: model, serial number, site, engine hours, breakdown and cost history.

Hour-meter preventive maintenance. Hour readings (entered by the operator or pulled from telematics) trigger work orders at the right thresholds. The workshop schedule accounts for shifts and shutdown windows agreed with the mine.

Mobile work orders. The mechanic opens the order on a rugged tablet, ticks the checklist, logs parts and labour, adds photos. Everything works offline and syncs when the site gets signal or through the camp's satellite link.

Parts store. Receipts, issues, inter-site transfers, reorder points based on actual consumption, and tracking of parts on order from Abidjan, Accra or Europe with lead times of 2 to 12 weeks.

Dashboards. Mechanical availability, MTBF, MTTR, cost per engine hour and per machine, and a monthly report ready for the mine owner.

Off-the-shelf or custom CMMS: 2026 comparison

Third-party costs are 2026 orders of magnitude. Hosting, telematics connection and hardware (rugged tablets) are priced in the quote. Delivery usually takes 3 to 5 months with a site-by-site rollout. See our custom web applications.

Mini case study

Mr Ouédraogo, technical director of a mining contractor in Ouagadougou. He tracks 40 haul trucks out of his 85 machines.

• Current unplanned downtime: about 120 h per truck per year, 4,800 h in total.
• Realistic target with hour-meter preventive maintenance: a 25% reduction, 1,200 h avoided.
• Downtime cost used: 200,000 FCFA per hour (cautious low end). Gain: 240 M FCFA (about 366,000 EUR) a year.
• Parts stock cut by 15%: 300 M FCFA (about 457,000 EUR) of cash released once.
• Investment: complex CMMS at 14 M FCFA, Premium maintenance at 1.44 M FCFA a year.

Calculation: 15.44 M FCFA in year one against 240 M FCFA of protected production and 300 M FCFA of released cash. Even if the gain were ten times smaller than planned, the project would pay back within the year.

FAQ

Does the CMMS work without signal on site?

Yes. Tablets store work orders and readings for several days, then sync once mobile or satellite connectivity returns. Entry conflicts are resolved by timestamp.

Can engine hours be captured automatically?

Yes, if machines carry an OEM or third-party telematics unit with an API. Otherwise the operator enters the meter reading at end of shift in 30 seconds.

How does the tool help with the mine owner?

It produces a monthly mechanical availability report per machine, with breakdown history. That contractual evidence avoids penalties often set at 1 to 3% of the monthly invoice per missing point.

Will mechanics adopt a tablet?

With a large-button interface, in French or English, with photos, adoption usually takes 2 to 4 weeks. Training one champion per site and per shift speeds it up noticeably.

Can we manage parts transfers between three sites?

Yes. Each site has its own store, transfers are logged with issue and receipt slips, and the consolidated stock is visible from head office.

Let's scope your project. Send us your equipment list, sites and connectivity constraints, and we will scope the build and rollout plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.