Forklift saves time and money.
Published in: Australian Mining
Date: 2/1/2007
By: Jamie Wade
Bengalla Mining Company, about 4km west of Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales, purchased acquired a forklift due to high costs and extended down time involved with using contract maintenance and hiring machines for maintenance at the site.
Bengalla Mining Company project technician Ken Andrews said the main reasons for buying the Manitou were safety, the capability to attach a certified approved man basket and convenience around the mine site.
He said maintenance of the dragline was another important consideration.
‘The Manitou plays an important part in this maintenance, being utilised everyday of the dragline shutdown,’ he said.
The man basket on the Manitou is used to change pins on the dragline bucket while the forks are used to change pins weighing 1 tonnes in and around the machine.
‘Having the capability to lift weight at a considerable length is a key benefit of the Manitou,’Andrews said.
The Manitou also carries out general maintenance duty on excavators and other machinery in the plant yard. This task was previously done by hiring a crane/bucket truck at a cost of around $200 per hour.
‘By having the Manitou on site down time on Bengalla’s machines is greatly reduced,’Andrews said.
‘When hiring machinery it could sometimes take hours to have the machine on site.
‘With the Manitou we are able to have the problem rectified in the time it would normally take for the hire machine to be on site.’
Vanessa Van den Broek
Manitou Australia