Analysis of Factors that Cause Drill Rig Breakdowns: A Case of Lubambe Copper Mine, Chililabombwe, Zambia

Mining is the key sector to Zambia’s economic development. The sector is a major contributor to national export earnings and employment. Nevertheless, the importance of the mining industry to the economy depends on sustained high levels of production output. As such, Lubambe Copper Mine (LCM) under Konkola North Project, owned by Vale and ARM was commissioned in 2010 with the view of producing 200, 000 tonnes of Ore per month by 2014. However, this target could not be achieved due to the high rate of drill rig breakdowns. Despite several attempts to address the problem of equipment breakdown, the situation still remained unresolved. This study therefore, sought to investigate the cause of the frequent drill rig breakdowns at the mine. A multimethod approach was adopted with qualitative data providing deeper insights and explanations of the problem. NVivo and SPSS software packages were used to determine association between variables, while the Z-Test was carried out to test the hypothesis and to validate the Chi-Square results. The findings from the study reviewed that human, environmental, maintenance and Supply Chain related factors were the cause of drill rig breakdowns at LCM. However, human related factors were identified as the major cause. These human factors include low motivation, fatigue, inadequate training and development for drill rig operators. Maintenance personnel were mainly affected by fatigue. The study however, proposed a Framework which could assist Executive Management to identify potential causes of drill Rig breakdowns and further recommended that management at LCM should establish measures to improve and monitor the motivation of employees through appropriate compensation, reward systems and job design with a maintenance culture based on precision.