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COVER STORY
22
MODERN MINING
April 2015
T
he 960E series is currently the
largest off-road mining vehicle
produced by Komatsu and despite
its size, power output and pay-
load capability is outstandingly
fuel efficient.
Komatsu’s long road to Husab began around
five years ago, when the mine’s project team
conducted a global survey of heavy-duty min-
ing equipment to identify which suppliers and
products would be best suited to the opera-
tion’s needs.
Husab Engineering and Maintenance
Manager Jaco Duvenhage explains that during
an exhaustive research and technical evalua-
tion process, particular attention was paid to
turnaround times – the key to the cost-effec-
tiveness of an operation the size and scope of
which will make it the world’s second-largest
uranium mine.
“The development team realised at the out-
set that the right machinery for its purpose
would deliver a combination of rapid cycle
times and fuel efficiency while at the same time
incurring low maintenance and running costs,”
says Komatsu South Africa Manager Mining
Business Frikkie Booyens.
Another given was the ability of the equip-
ment to work in the intense heat of the Namib
Desert, with temperatures reaching up to 40°C
during the summer months.
What followed was a travel marathon
involving several visits to Komatsu’s truck
manufacturing headquarters in Peoria, Illinois,
in the United States and mining sites around
the world to see products in action at the sharp
edge of the industry.
Trolley system
The quest to find the ideal EDT was accom-
plished when Komatsu presented its electric
trolley system which delivers an alternative
form of energy to propel trucks.
“The system was developed in conjunction
with the Siemens Group and operates within
the mining environment in basically the same
way as an inner city commuter tramway,” says
Booyens.
Trolley assist infrastructure comprising
overhead cables, transformers and related
equipment is established along the operation’s
haul roads and transmits power to the truck via
pantographs.
“This has the dual effect of increasing out-
right performance in terms of speed while
decreasing the consumption of diesel by as
much as 40 % or more. The effect on cycle
times is dramatic,” he adds.
And it’s not difficult to see why.
At Husab, heavily laden haul trucks will
wind their way from the bottom of the pit to
the stockpile area over a difference in eleva-
tion of in excess of 400 m. A fully laden truck
packing an all-up weight of well over 500 met-
ric tonnes is a very thirsty machine, but not so
with the Siemens trolley option.
Komatsu 960E-2KT drives
Komatsu’s mechanical might is being harnessed in the
development of Swakop Uranium’s massive Husab mine,
arguably Namibia’s largest ever commercial undertaking.
While the Komatsu fleet will total in excess of 50 products
on completion of delivery, the most powerful and visually
impressive will be its string of 23 Komatsu 960E-2KT electric
dump trucks (EDTs), some of which are already engaged in
the development of the mine’s pit areas.