WATM has delivered a Grove GMK7450 all-terrain crane to mining giant BHP Billiton Iron Ore.
BHP put the crane to work immediately, with its first job the dismantling of the primary iron ore crusher at its main mining facility, the Mt. Whaleback Mine, in Newman, Western Australia.
Stephen Lazenby, sales manager for WATM, said that BHP purchased the crane for its mobility and high lift capacity.
“BHP already owns several Grove all-terrain cranes, but the company needs more lift capacity for the maintenance work on the main iron ore crusher,” he said.
“Until recently, it was renting high capacity cranes from Perth, more than 1,200 km away. Therefore it made perfect financial sense to purchase a crane the company can keep at the mine.”
The job for the GMK7450 on the Allis Chalmers primary crusher was to lift out two of the central components.
The crusher has been in service since 1969 and the GMK7450 was responsible for removing the 68 t ‘spider’ and the 62 t mantle from the equipment.
This process will be repeated approximately three times a year. This first job completed without incident and the crane then moved to other remote sites to perform routine bi-monthly maintenance on other BHP mining equipment.
The GMK7450 all-terrain crane is the largest mobile crane from Manitowoc’s Grove brand.
It has a 450 t maximum capacity and a 60 m main boom featuring Grove’s TWIN-LOCK pinning system. With jib extensions, reach can extend to 130 m.
The seven-axle carrier includes a fully automatic Allison transmission and Grove’s unique MEGATRAK independent suspension system for optimal performance both on- and off- road.