WORLD NEWS
Liebherr
Danish crane and heavy haulage contractor BMS took delivery of the very first Liebherr LTM 1090-4.2 mobile crane, slated for its Aarhus site, in mid-December 2017. First unveiled at Conexpo 2017 in Las Vegas, the new 4-axle crane is extremely flexible and can travel with axle loads of 10, 12 and 16 tonnes. Its 60m telescopic boom is 10m longer than that of its predecessor, the LTM 1090-4.1. Per Thorsen Christiansen, MD in Aarhus, says,“ The new 90-tonne crane from Liebherr impressed me immediately because it has a very long telescopic boom, is just 2.55 metres wide, and can carry a great deal of ballast with an axle load of 12 tonnes. Furthermore, Liebherr has also integrated its VarioBallast and VarioBase innovations on this model.”
Crane handover in winter conditions in Ehingen, from left: Tommy Borgring and Christoph Kleiner( both from Liebherr- Werk Ehingen GmbH), Per Thorsen Christiansen( BMS), and Kristian Holst( Liebherr-Danmark ApS).
First fleet of Cat autonomous trucks for Rio Tinto
Caterpillar and Rio Tinto have signed an agreement to retrofit 19 Cat 793F mining trucks for autonomous operation at the Marandoo iron ore mine in Western Australia. Caterpillar will also install Cat Command for hauling software for operation of the autonomous fleet.
The result of the agreement will be the first fleet of Cat autonomous trucks deployed by Rio Tinto.
The first few trucks will be retrofitted in mid-2018, and the project will be completed by the end of 2019. Both Caterpillar and the regional Cat dealer, WesTrac, will play ongoing roles in managing and supporting the autonomous haulage system.
“ We are grateful for the opportunity to work with Rio Tinto in installing their first Cat autonomous haulage system,” said Jean Savage, Caterpillar VP for Surface Mining & Technology.“ Working with WesTrac, we look forward to helping Rio Tinto enhance operations with our proven mining technology.”
Rio Tinto Iron Ore CEO Chris Salisbury said,“ We are proud to have partnered with Caterpillar for 50 years and are excited about starting this new chapter in our automation story. This project with Caterpillar accelerates deployment of autonomous haulage via retrofit in our Pilbara operations and helps meet our objectives of making our operations safer and more productive.”
Marthinusen & Coutts
Marthinusen & Coutts, a division of ACTOM, recently executed the sub-assembly of six ABB gearless mill drives for Minera Panamá’ s remotely situated Cobre Panamá project, handing the machine over well ahead of schedule. Minera Panamá is the Panamanian subsidiary of First Quantum Minerals, and its Cobre Panamá project has an estimated life of mine of over 30 years. Four of the mill drives will power ball mills and the other two will drive SAG mills. The machines were transported in quartered sections to site for assembly in situ. According to divisional CEO Richard Botton, a team of six highly skilled technicians was responsible for the completion of the project within extremely tight time schedules, despite the challenges arising from the machines’ size and the adverse weather conditions.
The Marthinusen & Coutts team brazing the coil to the coil stator connections.
Caterpillar Caterpillar
Caterpillar will install Cat Command for hauling software for operation of the autonomous fleet.
The Cat autonomous trucks system draws capabilities from the full range of Cat MineStar System technologies.
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MARCH 2018