The verdict in three sentences
On a remote mine site, a haul truck stopped for want of a filter or a hose costs the contractor 150,000 to 400,000 FCFA per hour (about 250 to 700 USD), and the contract penalty often comes on top of lost production. Equipment maintenance software built for your constraints, hour meters, preventive plans, local parts stock and offline mode, lifts availability from 78 to 80 % toward 90 %. The 2026 ballpark is 30 to 70 million FCFA (about 50,000 to 120,000 USD) over 4 to 6 months, paid back by a few hundred hours of avoided downtime.
Why availability tops out at 80 %
The technical director of a contractor running 80 machines (haul trucks, excavators, loaders, drill rigs, graders) on a gold mine in Mali or Burkina Faso knows the chain of causes. Engine hours are logged by hand at the end of each shift, with gaps. The 250, 500 and 1,000-hour services drift because nobody sees in time that a machine is nearing its threshold. The site store does not know exactly what it holds, and a part ordered from Bamako, Ouagadougou or overseas takes 5 to 20 days to arrive.
Generic CMMS tools assume a permanent connection and a clean parts catalogue. On a site 300 km from the capital with a shared satellite link, those assumptions fail.
| Downtime cause | Share of lost hours (estimate) | Software response |
|---|---|---|
| Part missing from site store | 30 to 35 % | Stock per site, minimum levels per critical machine, early replenishment |
| Late preventive service, cascading failure | 20 to 25 % | Preventive plan triggered by hour meter, alert 50 h before threshold |
| Slow diagnosis, history not found | 15 % | History per machine and component, photos, fault codes |
| Waiting for mechanic or tooling | 10 to 15 % | Crew planning, work orders assigned on tablet |
| Wrong or missing hour readings | 5 to 10 % | Mobile entry at shift end or telematics reading |
| Tyres and consumables poorly tracked | 10 % | Tyre tracking by position, consumption per machine |
What the software does on site
The core is a tablet app that works offline: the shift supervisor logs engine hours, the mechanic opens and closes work orders, the storekeeper records issues and receipts. Everything syncs as soon as the link comes back, with conflict handling. The server, hosted at head office or in the cloud, calculates preventive due dates, availability by machine and fleet, MTBF and maintenance cost per hour.
The parts stock module handles several stores (site, rear base, capital), each supplier's real lead time, critical parts per machine model and transfers between sites. When an excavator's meter approaches 1,000 hours, the service kit is reserved automatically and its availability checked.
| Project item | 2026 ballpark (FCFA) | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Scoping, fleet inventory, OEM service plans | 3,000,000 to 6,000,000 | 3 to 4 weeks |
| Offline tablet app and sync | 9,000,000 to 20,000,000 | 6 to 8 weeks |
| Preventive engine, work orders, history | 7,000,000 to 16,000,000 | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Multi-store stock and purchasing | 6,000,000 to 14,000,000 | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Availability and cost dashboards | 2,000,000 to 7,000,000 | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Data migration, on-site training, acceptance | 3,000,000 to 7,000,000 | 3 weeks |
| Total | 30,000,000 to 70,000,000 | 4 to 6 months |
The telematics option, which pulls hours and fault codes directly from equipped machines, is priced separately depending on the OEMs in the fleet.
Expected gains
| Indicator | Before | 12-month target |
|---|---|---|
| Fleet mechanical availability | 78 to 80 % | 90 % |
| Preventive done within the planned window | 55 % | 90 % |
| Stops for missing parts | 30 to 35 % of lost hours | Under 10 % |
| Dead stock value | Not measured | Down 15 to 25 % |
| Hour logging time per shift | 20 minutes on paper, then re-keying | 3 minutes on tablet |
Kolonell prices this kind of software on a quote basis, after a site visit or remote workshop with the technical director and site manager.
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Mini case study
Mr. Traoré, technical director of a mining contractor near Kayes, runs 80 machines on two shifts, about 20 scheduled hours per machine per day. At 80 % availability the fleet loses 320 machine-hours a day. Reaching 90 % recovers 160. He conservatively assumes only 10 % of those recovered hours avoid a real production loss or penalty, so 16 hours a day at 200,000 FCFA: 3.2 million FCFA a day (about 5,500 USD), roughly 1.1 billion FCFA over a 350-day operating year. Even divided by five for uncertainty, the gain far exceeds software at 55 million FCFA.
FAQ
How much does custom mining equipment maintenance software cost?
The 2026 ballpark is 30 to 70 million FCFA (about 50,000 to 120,000 USD), depending on the number of sites, stores and integrations. A single site without telematics sits at the low end.
Does it work without internet?
Yes, the tablet app works offline for days and syncs whenever a link, even a slow one, is available. Data is stored encrypted on the device.
Can we load the OEM maintenance plans?
Yes, 250, 500, 1,000 and 2,000-hour plans are imported per machine model during scoping, which takes 2 to 3 weeks for an 80-machine fleet.
How soon will we see results?
Full rollout takes 4 to 6 months. The first effect on preventive compliance shows 6 to 8 weeks after go-live, once due dates are actually tracked.
Can it produce the reports the mine owner requires?
Yes, availability, utilisation and downtime by cause are reported per machine and per period, in the format set in your service contract.
Let's scope your project. One workshop with your technical director and site manager is enough to set the fleet scope, the stores involved and a rollout schedule that fits production. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
