Fleet Management at Assarel-Medet JSC

Assarel-Medet is a major copper mine located in the Pazardzhik Province of Bulgaria, extracting roughly 13 million tons of copper ore each year. The low concentration of copper throughout its lease prompted this site to acquire an FMS in 2005 to improve the efficiency of its excavation and transportation. Shortly after deployment, Assarel-Medet realized a range of significant benefits: 4.5% increase in average load size, while constraining overloads Truck operator productivity increased 3.5% per shift Shovel operator productivity increased by 5.5% Overall excavation rate rose by 10.5% per hour All the while, operating costs declined. “As a result of implementing the Wenco [FMS] system, as well as replacing some of our old mining equipment, Assarel-Medet was able to reduce the cost of its excavation and transportation operations by more than 3%, while increasing the amount of mined material by approximately 16%,” says Delcho Nikolov, then Assarel-Medet’s director of production and technical activities and now its executive director.