REBUILDS & REPAIRS
GHH has had considerable success in Chile buying back MK-A20 underground trucks following a tunnelling project and rebuilding them for resale back into the gold mining market
customers in order to adapt to the ever changing needs of the market . The OEM told IM : “ Some customers have partnered with GHH for on-site service and parts support while others have entered into various buy-back and rebuild contracts . With the constant dips in the economy and in the cashflow plans of certain customers , requests to rebuild and repair are becoming far more prevalent in some of the markets where GHH are active , like in Chile for example .”
Due to market needs and post pandemic strategies of underground mining equipment suppliers and customers in Chile , GHH says it saw the opportunity to give new life to a large number of its equipment units like its MK-A20s , which have been running since 2012 in Chile . This is an extremely popular model of 20 ton class truck that is utilised in mining and construction applications around the world .
GHH adds : “ With its very robust , simple and reliable design this truck has seen hours way into the 20,000s before even doing a mini-rebuild . The rebuild philosophy is tailored to various needs and not only phased in at the end of machine life but actually designed into the initial sale with the aim of maximising the machine value and minimising the total cost of ownership .”
All reman processes for MK-A20s being rebuilt in Chile were executed according to the manufacturing standards of GHH and along with the design philosophy of the original machine frames , in that they are designed for life and not for a specific number of hours . “ GHH has seen amazing cost benefits for customers , across the board when rebuilding these machines as the frame and system design has ensured very good longevity for the machine components overall and therefore minimises the end costs for the customer .”
As part of its rebuild and repair strategy GHH has developed various buyback options for customers to minimise the OPEX of the machine over its lifetime . As part of a buyback negotiation with customer Strabag in 2013 , GHH managed to give a new life to ten units of MK-A20s . Strabag had built the tunnel for the hydroelectric project of ‘ Alto Maipo ,’ namely the water crossing plant , with thirty units of the MK-A20 .
GHH Chile has already rebuilt seven of these ten MK-A20 units which are now successfully working in a gold mine in Venezuela while the remaining three are in the process of being remanufactured and will also soon be completed for future sale . These is just one example of the rebuild projects underway at GHH , which is soon to become part of Komatsu .
QME - a contractor and a rebuilder
Despite a significant setback with Boliden putting its Tara mine on care and maintenance in mid-2023 , where Navan , Ireland-based QME Ltd was heavily involved as a contractor and equipment maintenance and repair solutions supplier , QME ’ s remaining contracting business , and its rebuilds business , remain strong . Its