The third and final Bucyrus 495HD Electric Rope Shovel was successfully delivered, constructed, and commissioned at Boddington Gold Mine in Western Australia.
The first and second 495HD Bucyrus shovels have been working at the mine since November and January 2007 respectively.
Boddington Gold Mine (BGM) is situated approximately 130km South East of Perth and prior to a recent investment by joint venture partners Newmont Mining Corporation and AngloGold Ashanti, has been in care and maintenance for many years.
The availability of a cost effective power source, some challenging digging conditions, a comprehensive support package and the technical merits of the product, convinced BGM to purchase the three Bucyrus 495HD electric mining shovels as the primary loading tools for the site. BGM has a fleet of Caterpillar 793D rear dump trucks which are an even 3-pass loading match with the 495HD.
The Bucyrus 495HD (Heavy Duty) electric rope shovel has a maximum payload of 80 tonnes which places it in the mid-range of Bucyrus’ shovel product offering. The 495HD’s larger brother is Bucyrus’ 495HR shovel which has a maximum payload of 109 tonnes. Both models share similar mechanical components and identical state-of-the-art AC drive technology.
The BGM shovels run off a 6600 volt power source and the hourly operating costs compares very favourably with similar size diesel hydraulic loading units.
Commencing in August 2007 and finishing in April 2008, Bucyrus erected the three BGM 495HD shovels to BGM’s satisfaction and schedule with their own construction crew which at times numbered some 25 personnel. In excess of 45,000 man hours were worked by Bucyrus at the Boddington site with no lost time injuries incurred.
Bucyrus worked closely with BGM and their own safety management team to ensure a safe working environment and culture for the project. Bucyrus effectively employed safety management tools such as “SLAMs — Stop, Look, Assess and Manage” for all significant tasks and also employed “SAOs — Safe Act Observations” in the daily management of safety and culture at the site.
Since the first BGM 495HD went to work approximately 6 months ago and for a total period of 5 years, Bucyrus will support the BGM equipment via a full Maintenance and Repair Contract (MARC). All shovel maintenance and planning is performed by Bucyrus: management; warehousing; clerical; technical and skilled trades people. The 24-hour-a-day 7-day-per-week support package utilizes the services of 22 permanently employed Bucyrus personnel. Additionally, Bucyrus has made a significant investment in 495 parts inventory to support the Boddington fleet.
Guido Schawohl
Corporate Marketing
guido.schawohl@de.bucyrus.com