Caterpillar and Komatsu transport 50% of Chilean mining production

18/02/2019

by Mercado Equipos

Caterpillar y Komatsu trasportan el 50% de la producción minera de Chile

"Liebherr, Volvo and Hitachi also operate in the loading operations of the open pit mines."

Copper-laden trucks circulate through the open-pit mines to transport the 5.8 million tons that the production of this mineral represents in Chile, according to the report of the Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco). the country is number one in the world production ranking reaching more than 27% of the total participation according to figures from the 2018 Mining Council.

Brands such as Caterpillar (Cat), Komatsu, Volvo, Liebherr and Hitachi are glimpsed in the designs of these industrial Goliaths that can support up to 400 tons of cargo, with the exception of the GVW that moves with a total weight of 860 tons. A true mastodon manufactured by Belaz, a Belorussian company with operations in Chile since 2009 and which is scheduled to put into operation one or two fleets of trucks in the field by the end of 2019; statement made by Rostislav Lavrenov, general manager of Belaz Latin America, via email.

Chile, with a production that also includes gold, silver, iron and molybdenum, among other items and whose buyers include China, the US and Japan, has 1,592 operating trucks for open pit mining according to 2013-2014 mining equipment inventory. D the total number of trucks, 74% belongs to mining companies and 26% to large suppliers. If you add the light and utilitarian the figure amounts to more than 3000 units.

The so-called off-road trucks, dump trucks or yucles are used for transporting mineral and sterile material, and are mostly designed with a module composed of a supporting chassis, a cabin and a structure to transport the cargo. In a large mine operate between 60 to 100 trucks.

Mining on wheels, challenge between the environment and technology

According to the Association of Large Suppliers of Mining (Aprimin), "Caterpillar is the leading player in the mobile equipment mining sector, with more than a third of the market (34%), followed by Komatsu (16%)", without However, in the last decade Belaz and Hitachi (since 2014) have participated in this business whose investment has reached 9,552 million dollars.

The manufacturers of off-road trucks must deal with the corrosion that the environmental factors generate in these vehicles as well as the conditions of the tasks in the terrain that implies the unevenness in the roads. All these aspects must be harmonized with the functions to be performed by the hauler for the benefit of production.

Therefore, the major manufacturers have bet in recent years for the fusion of innovation and technology development, not only to strengthen the characteristics of trucks in the field but also for the automation of these equipment from what is called as Industry 4.0. Chile stands out as a pioneer in the use of this technology that has been in application for more than ten years and that includes robots connected to data networks.

Finning and Cat truck technology

CAT 797F

The company Finning is the distributor in Chile of equipment produced by Caterpillar, an American industry founded in 1925 and today, the world's largest manufacturer of mining machinery.

CAT trucks are innovating from software that automate processes in the field. Such is the case of MineStar Fleet, which manages the allocation of equipment, material routes and fuel supply at the same time ase minimizes operator intervention. These autonomous trucks, already used by the Brazilian company Vale, have increased productivity and have decreased fuel consumption, maintenance costs and tire wear as expressed in the Chilean Mining Magazine number 448.

Of the model fleet of CAT trucks, the 797F stands out, one of the off-road trucks in the list of the largest in the world with a nominal load capacity of 363 mt, load height of 6.9 m and a total length of 15m. It has a motor of 4,000 HP of gross power, a power shift transmission of seven speeds that allows this dumper to reach a speed of up to 67.6 km / h with its maximum load, as established by the mining equipment registry in Chile. In the Peruvian industry, it is the number one CAT truck in its operations.

Komatsu and his off-road truck 960E-2K

Komatssu 960E 2K

The Japanese company Komatsu, founded in 1917 as Komatsu Iron Works, started operations in Chile in 1999. Latin America has around a thousand active equipment in its open-pit mines manufactured by this industrial giant.

In the mining equipment registry 2013-2014 highlights the off-road truck model 960E-2K with a gross capacity of 3,500 HP and a payload capacity of 360 tons.

Of all the Komatsu models, this truck enters among the largest yucles in the world when reaching a height of 7.6 meters and a width of 10 m. This super machine is a reference for companies that operate in other Latin American countries and that begin to promote the mining industry.

The loading job ends, the trucks put out their daily roar and the workers of the mines finish their journey but, for years to come, ore-laden haulers will continue to circulate through the open-pit mines with the firm intention of developing the 44 projects that estimated the investment portfolio projected by Cochilco until the year 2027 and that total about 65,747 million dollars for the country. Just reason to keep these equipment in optimal condition.