Mammoet, the world leader in heavy lifting and transport, recently worked against the tightest deadlines to complete back-to-back assignments for two important mining customers, thus helping each meet its production targets. By coordinating its planning, Mammoet was able to save each client that most precious of resources: time.
Late last November, Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) approached Mammoet with a request to transport a Liebherr R996, weighing over 650 tons, from FMG’s Christmas Creek mine to another mine it had recently opened, Solomon, 250 kilometers (155 miles) away. Two key constraints: don’t take the Liebherr apart, and do get the job done before the fast-approaching Christmas ban on heavy hauling.
The equipment Mammoet settled on for the job was a double 24 Goldhofer with 6 block trucks, and then, for the last six kilometers (3.7 miles), including the slope, a double 18 self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT).
Mammoet had just loaded that Liebherr when, in early December, it was approached by BHP Billiton Iron Ore with a request to move a similar digger, a Liebherr R996B — this time just 35 kilometers (21.7 miles). Once again, the job was urgent, with the Christmas ban on heavy hauling approaching fast.
As it happened, the weather was delaying the actual transport of FMG’s Liebherr. With just 10 days to go before the Christmas moratorium on heavy hauling, Mammoet decided to transport Billiton’s Liebherr first, and then FMG’s.
It shifted 36 axle lines — the SPMT plus auxiliary equipment — 500 kilometers (311 miles) to where the Billiton Liebherr was, at Jimblebar. This time the route would take in two national-highway crossings, thus entailing nighttime transport, as well as a high-voltage power line that would have to be moved out of the way and then put back. Once the digger was off-loaded at the destination, Whaleback, the SPMT would be taken back to FMG’s Solomon mine where it would haul the FMG Liebherr on the last, six-kilometer leg of its trip.
Thanks to the dedication of the team, and careful coordination, everything went off without a hitch, thus allowing Mammoet to meet FMG’s and Billiton’s tight deadlines.
For more information, visit www.mammoet.com.
