Operation & Maintenance

Coal Washery Operation & Maintenance That Protects Every Tonne

Unplanned downtime, safety violations, and yield drift cost coal operators crores every year. JFI’s expert O&M supervision teams are embedded in plants managing a combined 179.2 MTPA of installed coal washery capacity, keeping your plant compliant, productive, and safe around the clock.

Total Capacity Under Management

150 .2MTPA

DGMS Compliant

Real-Time

Target Plant Uptime SLA

88 %+

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The Challenge & JFI’s Answer

Your Washery Operates 24 Hours a Day. Do Your Supervisors?

The Real Cost of Weak O&M Supervision

The Problem

Across India's coal sector, most O&M failures are not equipment failures, they are supervision failures. A dense media cyclone that runs at the wrong specific gravity for three shifts. A magnetite pump that vibrates for four days before anyone logs it. A shift hand-over that happens on paper but not in practice. These are the silent killers of washery yield and throughput.

Yield losses of 5–12% from unchecked specific gravity drift in HMC circuits

Unplanned shutdowns averaging 40–60 hours/month in poorly supervised plants

DGMS safety citations and statutory penalties from non-compliant shift operations

Magnetite losses 2–4x above design target due to unmonitored drain and rinse screens

Environmental non-compliance from overflow tailings ponds and untreated effluent discharge

Structured, Accountable, Embedded

The JFI Solution

JFI does not provide a nominal supervisory contract. We embed trained washery professionals, engineers, shift supervisors, and maintenance specialists directly into your plant operations. Each engagement is backed by JFI's proprietary O&M Standard Operating Procedures, developed from 50 years of live washery management across 130+ plants.

Real-time SG monitoring and HMC circuit correction, preventing yield drift before it compounds

Structured shift handover protocols with digital log verification, no gaps in accountability

Full DGMS statutory compliance management, inspection readiness maintained at all times

Predictive maintenance scheduling to eliminate unplanned shutdowns and emergency spares spend

Monthly KPI reporting: plant availability, yield, magnetite consumption, water balance, safety metrics

Full Service Scope

What JFI Expert Supervision Covers

From commissioning through to long-term operations, JFI provides structured O&M supervision across all plant disciplines, not just mechanical maintenance.

01

ROM Coal Characterisation & Washability Study

Float-sink analysis, proximate/ultimate testing, size-by-size washability curves and Tromp curve simulation.

04

3D Plant Modelling & Equipment Layout

Full BIM/3D design with clash detection, maintenance access corridors, and structural load calculations.

02

Pre-Feasibility & Techno-Economic Assessment

IRR, NPV, and payback period modeling. Plant capacity sizing (0.5 to 30 MTPA) vs. ROM supply forecast.

05

Detailed Engineering & DFR Package

Complete Detailed Feasibility Report ready for statutory approvals, lender due diligence, and EPC tender.

03

Process Flow Diagram & Mass Balance

Circuit selection, HMC, dense media bath, jigs, spirals, flotation, mapped with full water and mass balance.

DGMS Statutory Compliance

Safety is Not a Protocol. It's a Culture JFI Installs.

In coal washeries, safety failures and production failures are the same event; a conveyor jam, an unguarded screen, or an unlogged electrical fault can shut down a plant for days and trigger a DGMS show-cause notice that stalls operations for weeks.

Dedicated Safety Officer deployment at all John Finlay India supervised plants: resident, not visiting

Statutory register maintenance: Form X, Register of Accidents, Workmen's compensation records

Monthly safety audits against DGMS CMR 2017 and Coal Mines Regulations checklist

Emergency response plan (ERP) development, crew drills, and fire safety system verification

Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) procedure implementation for all maintenance windows

Environmental compliance: effluent monitoring, coal dust suppression, tailings pond level tracking

Pre-inspection readiness programme, no surprises when DGMS inspectors arrive on-site

Total capacity under JFI O&M

150 MTPA

Target plant uptime SLA

90 %+

Years of live washery O&M

40 +

Fatal incidents at JFI-managed plants (FY24–25)

Technical Specifications & Advantages

The Engineering Rigour Behind Every JFI O&M Contract

JFI's O&M methodology is built on engineering discipline, not general facility management. Every contract is backed by plant-specific procedures, measurable KPIs, and a direct line to JFI's design and equipment engineering teams.

Capacity & Plant Scale Managed

Plants under JFI O&M range from 0.5 MTPA to 10+ MTPA installed capacity

Total portfolio: 179.2 MTPA of coal washery capacity under active supervision

Both coking coal (three-product) and thermal coal (two-product) washery configurations managed

Wet beneficiation and dry beneficiation (XRT/air-based) plant O&M available

Operational in CIL, SCCL, BCCL, and private mine-linked washery plants across India

Plant Uptime & Availability Targets

Target plant availability: 93%+ (against Indian industry average of ~78–82%)

Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) improvement: typically 35–50% in first 12 months

Unplanned shutdown target: ≤8 hours per month across primary circuit equipment

Emergency response SLA: critical fault attendance within 2 hours for on-site team

JFI HQ engineering backup available for complex fault diagnosis within 24 hours

Process Monitoring Protocols

Shift-basis specific gravity (SG) checks: minimum 3× per 8-hour shift in HMC circuits

Magnetite consumption tracked per shift and benchmarked against design loss target (≤0.5 kg/t)

Vibrating screen deck inspection protocol: panel-by-panel condition logging every 72 hours

Centrifuge basket and scroll wear tracking, predictive replacement schedule vs. failure replacement

Water circuit balance monitored daily: thickener overflow clarity, flocculant dosing, pond levels

Reporting & Management Interface

Daily shift reports: throughput, yield, downtime log, safety observations

Weekly summary: plant efficiency trend, top 5 maintenance issues, corrective actions

Monthly KPI package: 15+ plant performance indicators with trend analysis

Quarterly review: strategic O&M recommendations, capex/opex optimisation proposals

Annual O&M audit report: full plant condition assessment and 5-year lifecycle outlook

About John Finlay

Why 130+ Plants Trust JFI to Supervise Their Operations

The most important feature of JFI’s O&M supervision is something no competitor can offer: our supervisors were trained on plants that JFI designed and built. They understand the intent of every process decision, not just the symptom on the instrument panel.

When an HMC cyclone underperforms, a JFI supervisor does not just log the deviation. They trace it to the root cause, whether it is feed size distribution, SG creep, cyclone wear, or a blocked apex because they have the engineering background to distinguish between them. That is the difference between compliance-level supervision and performance-level supervision.

With the Ministry of Coal targeting 58 MTPA of washery capacity by FY2030 and the WDO (Washery Developer cum Operator) model accelerating private washery O&M contracts, JFI is positioned as India’s most experienced third-party washery operations partner.

179 MTPA

Under active O&M management

50+

Years of washery operations

130+

Plants commissioned & managed

93%

Target plant uptime SLA