When every minute of unplanned downtime is a lost opportunity, failure prevention is vital. In mining and heavy industry, where it’s not unusual to process hundreds of tons of raw material a day, even half an hour of unexpected downtime can cost a fortune in lost earning potential. And those losses only tend to multiply in seasonal mining applications.

Unfortunately, the very nature of the mining business takes a brutal toll on critical equipment, exposing pipes, tanks, chutes, launders, and more to severe abrasion, impact, corrosion, and vibration. This exposure accelerates metal loss, resulting in thinning, distortion, and ultimately, leaks or structural failure. Rubber linings, when expertly bonded to the metal surface, form a protective barrier and prevent premature wear and equipment failures.

The Impact of Rubber Linings on Equipment Reliability

In applications such as slurry pipes, chutes, cyclones, tanks, and mills, unlined steel components are directly exposed to abrasive ore, tailings, and corrosive processes. Combining these harsh substances at high velocity over extended run times eats away at the metal’s surface, stressing joints and seams and creating uneven surfaces that disturb process performance.

Rubber lining prevents this damage by acting as a sacrificial layer that’s much easier and more cost-effective to repair or replace than the equipment itself. By shifting failure from sudden events to gradual and predictable wear, maintenance-related downtime is easier to plan for with minimal interruption to operations. Equipment lifespans can more than double when specially engineered rubber linings stand between abrasive process materials and the component’s surface.

Absorbs Abrasion and Erosion

Rubber linings for mining and heavy industry are engineered to resist the forces that cause unexpected equipment failure, allowing operations to accurately plan maintenance schedules around predictable lining wear. When wear does occur, it is localized to the lining rather than the vessel or pipe itself, reducing the frequency of catastrophic failures that force unplanned shutdowns.

Protects Against Impact and Vibration

Rubber’s elastomeric properties allow it to absorb energy from falling ore, high-velocity slurry, and cyclical loading that would otherwise cause cracking, fatigue, or weld failure in rigid materials. By absorbing impact and vibrational energy in transfer chutes and feed boxes, for example, rubber linings prevent spalling and deformation that interrupt material flow, resulting in costly blockages or tailings losses.

Prevents Corrosion

Corrosion is one of the leading causes of premature equipment failure, especially in wet process operations. By isolating steel substrates from corrosive media, rubber linings prevent undercutting, pitting, and corrosion-assisted wear. This slows the progression from minor damage to major failure, allowing maintenance teams to plan interventions rather than react to sudden leaks or contamination events.

Simplified and Predictable Maintenance

Rubber linings reduce downtime by enabling faster, more predictable repairs. Worn linings can often be patched or replaced in sections during scheduled outages, rather than requiring extensive metal fabrication or replacement of components. In piping systems, lined sections can be swapped with minimal disruption compared to cutting out and rewelding eroded steel, shortening maintenance windows and improving the accuracy of maintenance planning.

How Rubber Linings Improve Operator Safety in Mining & Heavy Industry

Operating heavy machinery under extremely punishing conditions is hard enough on the equipment, but the toll it can take on the operator has life-altering consequences. According to the CDC, four out of five miners will develop significant noise-induced hearing loss before retirement, a direct result of continuous exposure to hazardous noise. Not only can excessive equipment and process noise lead to permanent hearing loss, but it can also prevent workers from hearing vital safety warnings.

By absorbing impact, abrasion, and vibrations, rubber-lined equipment generates significantly less noise, lowering operator fatigue and reducing the likelihood of safety-related stoppages or inspections triggered by excessive noise levels. Improved operator comfort and safety correlates to improved employee retention, performance, and attendance. While often considered secondary benefits, these factors contribute to smoother and more continuous operations over time.

Why Choose ProCo’s Rubber Lining for Mining & Heavy Industry?

This is a case where the results truly speak for themselves.

ProCo’s proprietary PC-60ARN rubber compound demonstrated significantly lower volume loss in comparative Taber abrasion tests versus competitor formulations and standard natural rubber, indicating enhanced wear resistance in abrasive conditions.

	PC-160	Polyurethane	Black Natural	Tan Gum
Mass Loss/Revolution (mg) *	0.0661	0.0860	0.7918	0.9761
Revolutions	3,000	3,000	3,000	3,000
Total Mass Loss (g)	0.1983	0.2580	2.7923	2.9283
Specific Gravity	1.100	1.110	1.099	1.035
Volume Loss (cm³)	0.1803	0.2324	2.1614	2.8292
* Testing performed by Akron Rubber Development Laboratory, Inc. Compounds Tested for Abrasion Resistance: • PC-160 – Proco’s proprietary Abrasion resistant Black Natural Rubber compound. • Polyurethane – 80 Durometer abrasion resistant polyurethane believed to be best. • Black Natural – 60 Durometer abrasion resistant rubber specified by our competitors. • Tan Gum – 40 Durometer rubber often specified by others because of its low cost.

Full-Service Solutions from Design to Reline

Protective Coatings proudly stands as an industry role model, leveraging our decades of expertise to develop customized rubber lining solutions engineered to protect your critical equipment, extending service life, limiting unplanned downtime, and improving workplace safety. We offer true flexibility, whether it’s expertly applying rubber linings to customer-supplied parts or sourcing complete lined assemblies through ProCo’s manufacturing facilities and partnerships. When parts are too large or impractical to ship for shop-applied service, our expert technicians provide the same level of quality in the field.

Chutes, pipes, tanks, and other equipment don’t need to be fresh from the shop floor either. We work with our customers to develop rubber lining solutions for older equipment, tailored to protect against their unique process requirements. To help maintain equipment reliability, we also offer complete relining and repair services.

If It’s Metal, We Can Protect It

Don’t wait for unexpected downtime to address equipment weakness. Contact the rubber lining experts at Protective Coatings, Inc. today.