MINING TRUCKS
and comprehensive tested technology to the
market.”
Liebherr progresses T 264 and trolley
T 284
Liebherr’s new 240 t class T 264 electric AC drive
truck is starting to make strides, with AngloGold
Ashanti announcing that six units are being added
to its Tropicana gold mine fleet in Australia,
upping the ante from the current Caterpillar 793
227 t class fleet. The new machines are being
operated by contract miner Macmahon and are
equipped with DT HiLoad’s Hercules truck body, a
heavy duty, lightweight, durable, dump truck tray
designed to suit all OEM makes and models.
Macmahon was originally awarded a 10 year
mining contract for the
Tropicana gold
operation, with mining
commencing in July
2012, with the end date
now April 2027. The
Tropicana Gold Project
is part of the joint
venture between
AngloGold Ashanti
Australia Pty Ltd (70%)
and Independence
Group NL (30%). The
project is located 330
km north east of
Kalgoorlie on the edge of Western Australia’s
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38 International Mining | APRIL 2020
The first newly trained operators of the Liebherr
T 284 with trolley assist at Cobre Panama
Great Victoria Desert. Macmahon’s scope of work
includes mine planning, drill and blast, load and
haul, crusher feed and other associated works.
The T 264 with its 240 t payload matches both
ultra-class hydraulic excavators, as well as electric
shovels and wheel loaders. Its unique combination
of a high-horsepower engine (2,700 hp), an efficient
Litronic Plus AC drive system and powerful electric
wheel motors (4,425 hp) allow for faster cycle times,
making the T 264 productive and cost-efficient. At
Tropicana the loading tools are all hydraulic
machines including a Cat 6060 FS excavator (600 t);
a Cat 6050 excavator (500 t); a Cat 6040 excavator
(400 t); and a Hitachi EX3600 (350 t). Along with the
new Liebherr trucks there are 19 Cat 793 trucks and
three Bucyrus (now Cat) SKF15 drills.
Tropicana aside, there is also understood to be
a fleet of T 264 trucks at Russia’s operating in
Russian coal at the huge Chernigovets operations
of Siberian Business Union (SDSUgol) in
Kemerovo region.
Moving over to the massive Cobre Panama
project and the Botija pit, Liebherr is building on
its successful trolley assist fleet at FQM’s Sentinel
mine. Following the trolley line becoming
operational in 2019, in February 2020, the first
Cobre Panama T 284 operators completed trolley
truck training on the units that have been newly
fitted with trolley pantographs. The new mine has
a diverse workforce and in the lead trolley assist
truck trainer is female. The 30 strong T 284 fleet at
Cobre Panama is the largest in the world.
Liebherr’s AHS system will soon be launched,
expected later in 2020, for both its T 264 and T
284 trucks, but it is known the company has been
working closely with ASI Mining and that the
system is using ASI’s FMS agnostic Mobius
command and control platform. Liebherr was very
keen to do this rather than establishing a
proprietary command and control platform on its
own. This move to an open platform will provide
much needed flexibility to their customers when
integrating different autonomous vehicle types
throughout a mine site.