Case Study: Rio Tinto achieves longer engine life and lower lifecycle costs with Cummins Eliminator filtration

Eliminating the Obstacles to Longer Engine Life

Rio Tinto, the global mining company operating large iron ore mines in Western Australia, was looking to improve the life-to-overhaul of its Cummins QSK60 engines in Komatsu WA1200-6 loaders. The challenge was to increase engine life, reduce maintenance burden, and lower lifecycle costs while keeping the heavy mobile fleet running efficiently.

Cummins worked with Rio Tinto to install the engine-mounted Cummins Eliminator oil filtration system, replacing the standard remote-mounted spin-on filters and adding revised engine software. The solution improved filtration efficiency and reduced flow restriction, helping Rio Tinto target a 20% increase in engine life and extend overhaul life to 21,000 hours, while also delivering a 4% fuel consumption improvement and simpler, safer maintenance across all nine loaders.

Rio Tinto

Hugh Carlisle

Specialist Engines