29.03.2009

BHP Billiton take GMK7450

Australian mining company BHP Billiton Iron Ore has taken delivery of a 450 tone Grove GMK7450 All Terrain crane.

The crane went straight to work dismantling the primary iron ore crusher at its Mt. Whaleback Mine, in Newman, Western Australia.

The job including lifting out two of the central components from the 40 year old crusher including the 68 tonne ‘spider’ and the 62 tonne mantle. This process will be repeated around three times a year.
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The Grove GMK7450 on its first lift

This first job was completed without incident and the crane then moved to another remote site to perform routine bi-monthly maintenance on other BHP mining equipment.

Stephen Lazenby, sales manager for Grove distributor WATM, said: “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. 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.”