Smith Power Equipment( SPE), a division of Smith Mining Equipment, has expanded its Kubota product offering significantly, with the new Kubota RTV-X900 side-by-side utility vehicle— already operating underground at a number of South African mines. The RTV-X900 is imported as a stock unit and Maubra Utility Products modifies the RTV-X900 into a mine-ready unit.
Much of SPE’ s early success can be traced to its long-standing involvement in the utility sector, where the company started out supplying agricultural tractors and mowers. In 1991, the company acquired the rights to distribute the Toro Company’ s golf course maintenance machinery, and in 1997, it added the Polaris brand to its offerings. In 2000, Smith acquired sole distribution rights for Japan’ s Kubota Corporation— including its range of small tractors, utility vehicles, diesel engines, and excavators— allowing the company to maintain its foothold in the mining sector while also expanding into sectors including agriculture and forestry.
Despite the decline in the country’ s gold production over the past few decades, South Africa is still one of the world’ s top gold producers, and with eight of the world’ s 10 deepest mines, it remains a leader in deep underground mining and safety. The tasks involved in a successful mining operation are manifold, and the deeper the mine gets, the more considerations are in play. The ability to move equipment, personnel, and supplies from the shafts to the rock face is vital, and it is here that the Kubota RTV-X900 comes into its own.
The layout of a deep-level mine may include hundreds of kilometres of tunnels that can make the transfer of staff and goods a hugely complex and potentially extremely hazardous undertaking. Historically, this was accomplished using a combination of a‘ cage’ for vertical transportation and manual or trolley-based transportation for horizontal movement.
Smith Power Equipment, importer of Kubota since 2000, has expanded to offer products for companies operating in the mining, construction, agriculture, and forestry industries. Its offering of the Kubota RTV-X900 utility vehicle is modified by Maubra Utility Products for various mining applications.
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