Off-highway machines from LiuGong Equipment are helping extraction operations in South Africa’s Kimberley Region in Cape Province. The heavy-duty construction equipment is being used to help the operations to minimise production costs and to maximise profits according to the firm.
In a privately owned operation in Kimberley, all work except the screening of ore is undertaken on by LiuGong equipment. From the start, a LiuGong B230 bulldozer removes material from the seam surface. Then a LiuGong 933E excavator digs out the seam to 2m deep and separates out large stones and gravel. The raw materials are transported by a LiuGong 856H wheeled loader to the fine selection process and for cleaning. Finally, the 856H removes the waste to landfill.
As of August, 2017, the extraction operation has a total of nine LiuGong machines; consisting of four 856H wheeled loaders, three 933E excavators, one B230 dozer and one 835H wheeled loader.
The units have delivered high utilisation rates of 95%, despite working long hours and the low fuel consumption, of the excavators in particular, have also helped to lower operating costs according to the customer. With the firm looking to increase its operations, it intends to increase the size of its machine fleet and says that it will be likely to buy more units from LiuGong in the future.
