Recognising Safety and Innovation at GRX26

 Geographe’s latest Specialised Tooling™ breakthrough, the Ball Stud Bearing Installation & Removal Tool (BSBIRT), was recently named a finalist in the Exceptional Innovation in Mining category at the 2026 Global Resources Innovation Expo (GRX26).

The top honour in the category went to BHP for their pioneering robotic arm solution. Developed in collaboration with MIRS, Worley, Trefimet, and the BHP Invent team, their technology eliminates manual thermal lancing during smelter tapping, one of the highest-risk tasks in the industry. While BHP’s innovation addresses safety at the smelter, Geographe is delivering that same step-change in the workshop. The BSBIRT follows this exact industry mandate: removing personnel from the “line of fire” by replacing high-risk manual labour with controlled, engineered systems. 

 Haul Truck Maintenance and the BSBIRT 

Servicing steering arm bearings to suit Caterpillar 785, 789, and 793 trucks has traditionally been a high-risk, labour-heavy grind. The BSBIRT changes the math. By replacing manual, high-impact methods with a controlled, three-step hydraulic procedure, we’ve turned a multi-person struggle into a precision job for a single technician. 

How the BSBIRT benefits your site

• Eliminating the “Swing & Hope” Method: By removing the need for manual hammering, we’ve engineered out the primary risks of flying debris, hand-crush injuries, and the long-term physical strain on maintenance crews.

   

• Guaranteed Asset Integrity: A built-in guidance system ensures perfect alignment every time. There is no more “near enough is good enough”, you get total protection for the ball stud bearing.

   

•  From Two Shifts to One: In recent trials with a Tier 1 miner, combining the BSBIRT with our Ball Stud Removal Tool (BSRT) collapsed a two-shift job into a single 12-hour window. Individual bearing changes that used to take six hours are now clocked at approximately 15 minutes.

 Collaboration with the Industry

GRX26 was a valuable opportunity to connect with the next generation of BHP engineering talent and discuss site-specific challenges with teams from Rio Tinto and other Tier 1 operators.

Whether it’s our Enhanced Performance™ wear parts or our Specialised Tooling solutions, our focus remains on making maintenance more predictable, less physically demanding, and significantly faster.

If you missed seeing the BSBIRT, you can learn more about our latest tooling development here: https://geographe.com.au/bsbirt