IM 2017 November 17 | Page 53

HIGH PROFILE production plans of the mine. All the business in South Africa is dealt with by local dealer, Mynbou Rigs Afrika, trading as BELAZ Africa. In South America, BELAZ together with its international financing arm FinMining is in the process of launching its branch office in Chile. The company named BELAZ Latin America is starting operations in November 2017 with the aim to liase with and to support all BELAZ operations in the mining industry in Latin America, including Chile, Peru and Argentina. The new branch is expected to consolidate and to increase the BELAZ presence in the area. Some of the BELAZ fleet at the Kumba Iron Ore Lyleveld project, operated by contractor Tau Mining Meeting emissions targets in Europe and USA In Poland, the BELAZ dealer, POLMARK K ielce PPUH, has introduced dump trucks of 45-55 t capacity with the option of Scania or Liebherr engines as well as Mercedes engines. The move follows a 2016 project when BELAZ Holding manufactured a prototype of a 60 t payload capacity truck equipped with a Liebherr engine (BELAZ 7555I) and also a 45 t payload truck equipped with a Scania DC16 engine (BELAZ 75454). These vehicles were introduced at the International Fair Autostrada 2016 in Kielce. Then in 2017, a BELAZ 7547 truck was equipped with a Scania DC16 engine as well as an MTU engine. All these vehicles passed their operational tests and were positively evaluated by customers. The main criteria BELAZ took into consideration when choosing the new engines were the exhaust emission standards they have to meet as in the USA and Europe there are the Tier 4 Final and Stage IV emissions standards. In addition, the wide engine offering is indicative of the level of customisation BELAZ can offer – it is the only OEM in the world with so many options when it comes to engine selection. The new 45 t capacity BELAZ trucks equipped with Scania and Mercedes engines are operating at Polish cement plants in limestone quarries, while the 60 t truck is in operation in the Czech Republic. BELAZ states that the new trucks have potential application wherever these levels of emissions standards are in force but also where the customer wants to own a reliable, durable and low operational cost vehicle. IM NOVEMBER 2017 | International Mining 51