Mobile plant and fleet
Damage to owned and hired-in machines on site, generally scheduled with agreed values on the larger units.
Mining Equipment Insurance
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Mining Equipment Insurance
Cover for surface and underground mining plant and support fleets.
Mining plant breaks the assumptions a standard plant policy is built on. Values run into the millions per machine, sites are remote, and the contract you signed with the mine operator usually dictates the limits, indemnities and waivers your policy has to carry. Fire on a haul truck or loader is the loss that most often turns into a total.
What is it?
Mining fleets cover surface machines such as excavators, rigid and articulated haul trucks, dozers, graders and drill rigs, and underground machines such as loaders, jumbos and personnel carriers. Support fleets add water trucks, service trucks, light vehicles and generators. Most Australian sites are worked by contractors rather than the mine owner, which is why contractual insurance obligations drive so much of the structure.
What does mining equipment insurance cover?
Fire and breakdown
Machine fire and, where added, sudden mechanical or electrical breakdown, which is usually an optional extension.
Principal indemnity
Liability wording that meets the mine operator's access agreement, including indemnity to principals and waiver of subrogation where required.
What affects the cost?
- Fleet value and machine classes
- Surface or underground work
- Remoteness and recovery access
- Contract insurance requirements
- Fire suppression and maintenance systems
Worth raising on the call
- Read the site access agreement before the policy, because it often sets the limits you are required to carry.
- Remote recovery and salvage costs can exceed the repair itself, so check that sub-limit carefully.
- Underground exposures are underwritten very differently from open cut and should never be assumed included.
Claims we are commonly asked about
Loader fire in a decline
An underground loader catches fire in a decline, becomes a total loss and shuts ventilation and production down while the heat clears. Recovering a burnt machine from underground is a specialist job in its own right, and the cost of that recovery is commonly the part that exceeds expectations.
Dump truck body cracked by oversize
An excavator drops an oversize rock into a haul truck tray from height and cracks the body and the chassis rails behind it. Repairs of this kind are usually done on site by boilermakers, and the labour and access costs in a remote pit can be a large share of the claim.
Drill rig rolls in transit
A float carrying a drill rig to a remote site rolls on a wet station track, damaging the rig, the mast and the trailer. Whether the rig is covered in transit, and whether that cover is yours or the transport operator's, is worth settling before the machine leaves the yard.
Worth confirming in the wording
- Worth confirming whether recovery and removal of a machine from underground or a remote pit sits under its own sub-limit, and whether that limit reflects real recovery costs.
- Worth confirming whether loss of production, standing charges or contract penalties following a machine loss are covered anywhere, because a plant policy generally deals with the asset only.
- Worth confirming whether the definition of insured sites or territory in the policy actually covers every site your contracts require you to work.
Common questions
Does mining equipment insurance cover lost production while a machine is down?
Generally not on its own. Plant policies typically respond to physical damage to the asset, while loss of income, standing charges and contract penalties usually need a separate business interruption or additional increased cost of working arrangement. It is worth raising early, because contractor cash flow is often more exposed to downtime than to the repair bill.
What insurance do mine sites require contractors to carry?
It varies by site and is set out in the access agreement rather than by regulation. Common requirements include public and products liability at a specified limit, workers compensation, motor vehicle cover, plant and equipment cover, and wording that indemnifies the principal and waives subrogation. Reading that agreement before pricing the cover is generally the only reliable approach.
Is underground equipment insured the same way as surface plant?
No, underground exposures are usually underwritten quite differently. Fire behaviour, recovery access, ventilation dependency and the concentration of machines in a confined space all change the risk picture, and some wordings exclude underground operations unless specifically added. It should never be assumed included.
What drives the cost of mining equipment insurance?
It depends on the fleet and the contract. The main drivers are total fleet value and the classes of machine involved, whether the work is surface or underground, site remoteness and recovery access, the insurance obligations imposed by your contracts, fire suppression and maintenance systems, and claims history.
General information only. Cover, limits and exclusions depend on the PDS, TMD, eligibility, underwriting and the policy terms. See mobile plant machinery insurance for the wider picture.
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