REBUILDS AND RENTALS
example , Tom hired me and I come from a long background of underground contract mining . And the same is true of all our other managers – they either come from an underground contract mining background , a mine owner-operator background or from an OEM supplier . So he made the company experience level matched all the customer options . This means we can walk into a customer mine and say – OK you have a 16,000 hour machine – we know it will last 17,000 hours so we have a bit of a gap . Here is a value we can put on that equipment and here are the options on refurbishment , rebuilding or replacing and in the case of replacing finding a home for that asset .”
This new equipment rental ( and purchase ) market really flourished – and today is AMT ’ s fastest growing business . Elson : “ A part of that is that we have the OEM backing as well . To give you an example , someone looks to take a new Sandvik jumbo from Amalgamated , and we give them a value for the old equipment it is replacing . We normally have units in the stock of the model that is needed plus the customer still gets full OEM support on training , parts and service . So we haven ’ t taken anything away from the OEM partner .”
What about the options for the old machine ? “ There are scenarios where we can take that equipment out of their operation and refurb or rebuild it with new technology addition , and they use a rental machine from us as a stop gap until we return their machine . But probably the most common situation is where we replace the old machine with a new machine and then it is up to us what we do with the old asset .”
Then Amalgamated also buys used equipment on the open market to refurb / rebuild and repurpose . “ South American and African markets are big equipment supply chains for us – as is Australia . And we have the buying power to look at full packages – so we would come in and not just look to buy one or two units . We would buy all or most of the fleet – say 50 % of it we can rebuild and remarket ; 25 % of it we know it has another home as is in another location whether to a mine or to another rebuilder ; and the remaining 25 % we can recycle by using parts where we can – often the parts once rebuilt can end up being worth more than the whole core ’ s initial value . And this business has really thrived in recent years due to the supply chain crisis .”
There are lots of scenarios where an equipment package might become available – a mine comes to end of its life , or a contractor loses a contract or looks to sell off excess fleet . Or a mine has been mothballed and receivers are looking to sell off machines . AMT even has partners that can look at taking stationary processing equipment as well . So it can in some cases buy everything and find a home for it .
Before and after rebuild of Sandvik DD321 development jumbo by AMT
AMT is becoming increasingly global – 10 or financial needs . When metal prices are low or for even five years ago its home Canadian mining example during Covid , miners and contractors market still represented a majority of its business didn ’ t want to invest millions in a new machine – – today it has significantly grown its US business we were available with the rental option .” to almost equal its Canadian market , while its AMT also deals with Sandvik on a global basis equipment repurposing business has in terms of used equipment . “ We ’ ve given them significantly grown in Australia . North America an outlet for any used equipment trade-ins of any and Australia together make up about 75 % of brand that anyone wants to apply as part of a AMT ’ s business today with other countries and purchase or rental of a new Sandvik machine . regions the remainder .
Otherwise its a difficult proposition for them to What ’ s driving this global growth ? “ If you look see the value in the used machines . We can see at the values that we are carrying in our the value , especially in terms of hard to get parts , business , a big one is that we can and do work plus we have our rebuild facility , parts facility and with everybody . We don ’ t set out to own or sales facility in-house to the point where we have dominate any markets but to work with everyone the ability to put a new value on that older machine .” in it . To give some examples – we work a lot with For Getman and Kovatera AMT is a full dealer other rebuilders like QME in Ireland to give an in certain regions . For Kovatera it is the US plus example ; we work closely with the major
Western and Northern Canadian dealer and for underground mining contractors in Australia ; and Getman all of Canada and certain US states . In we work well with the OEMs and contractors in both cases this covers buying , selling , parts and Africa . And we work with mine owners , support . contractors and suppliers in South America .”
What are AMT differentiators versus others
Taking QME as an example , the relationship offering rebuilds , mid-life services etc ? Elson : “ As covers equipment supply both ways – it buys stated before our background and experience from AMT and vice versa . And in some cases the means a lot – we have a lot of people that used two companies help market each other ’ s to operate underground machines in contracting equipment . and mining companies so they know how the
Back to OEMs and AMT ’ s major alliance machines tick . But another important point is the partner today is Sandvik followed by Getman and sheer value of machines that we run through our Kovatera . “ With Sandvik we act as their rental shops and deploy , redeploy and purchase back – arm in North America . This involves buying from in 2023 we deployed close to 180 underground them but also selling back to them based on units . Of those about 40 % were used units , and supply and demand considerations . We bring the these are mainly of the same type we have customer a full set of offerings . We can take their rebuilt in previous years – so the experience level existing asset and replace with new with the from a shop point of view is key as well in terms options of purchase or rental , whichever fits their of repetition of work .”
64 International Mining | FEBRUARY 2025