McKenzie Plant Hire operates a total of four Bell Equipment articulated dump trucks at Marble Hall Mine.

Load and haul functions at Afrimat’s Marble Hall Mine, an opencast limestone mining and beneficiation operation in Limpopo, have been outsourced to a contractor, McKenzie Plant Hire.

McKenzie was appointed when Afrimat took over the operation as the previous contractor couldn’t meet the expected production standards. A total of four Bell Equipment articulated dump trucks (3 x B30D and 1 x B20D) are hauling from the pit to the primary crushers at a 2km distance, achieving three to four loads per dumper per hour at 15 to 20-minute cycle times.

Stephan Becker, mining manager, tells Equipment Africa that the new, careful drilling and blasting patterns have significantly improved haul road condition, ultimately increasing truck production per hour, while a greater degree of fragmentation assures faster excavator loading rates in the pit and decreasing the rate of bridging at the crushers. The Bell B30D dumpers are using 14 litres (l) of diesel per hour, while the B20D is consuming 10l per hour.

A 35t Komatsu PC350 excavator is loading the dumpers in the pit, using 24l of diesel per hour, while its counterpart, the 27t Komatsu PC270, using between 18 and 24l of diesel per hour, is feeding a mobile crusher working on the construction aggregate stockpile.

A Bell Equipment L1806E wheel loader is working at the stockpiles, loading customers’ trucks. It is using about 16l of diesel per hour. Meanwhile, a 966H Cat loader is used for general dispatching duties on site, consuming 18 to 22l of diesel per hour. A Komatsu HM300 dumper working on the stockpiles complements the hauling line-up, while an Atlas Copco ECM 660 blasthole drill rig undertakes all drilling functions on site, using 36l of diesel per hour. Total diesel burn on site has been reduced from 25 000l to 15 000l a month.

Equipment Africa says: Bell Equipment continues to increase its articulated dump trucks fleet into many of the larger quarrying operations in South Africa. It has done this by either supplying directly to the quarry companies themselves but, in many instances, to contractors who undertake the load and haul functions on behalf of these quarries.