Scania tested at over 200 tonnes

From Western Australia’s Pilbara to the northern tip of Cape York, Scania mining trucks are quietly working away, assisting Australian mining companies to meet their production targets and earn export income.

ASX-listed Metro Mining Ltd commenced mining operations at its Bauxite Hills Mine, 95km north of Weipa on the western edge of Cape York in April 2018. Production is ramping up and the Scania haul trucks are pulling their weight, and then some.

There are nine V8-powered Scania trucks in the Metro Mining fleet at the mine, one R 620 and eight R 730s.

The R 730s work two 12-hour shifts day-after-day. For half the fleet, running as triples on a 22km haul route, accumulating 880km each day, pulling more than 200-tonnes of payload.

The route is direct from pit floor to port, where the bauxite is screened, and fed onto barges that cruise up the Skardon River into open sea to be trans-shipped into bulk carriers headed to China.

The other half of the Scania fleet pulls 90-tonnes of payload in two trailers on a shorter route from a pit nearer to the port.

Aside from the round-the-clock schedule, the climate and fine Bauxite dust, the Scania V8s cope well with the uneven pit floor and the hauls up the inclines out of two creek crossings on their way from the furthest pit to the port.

The triples are Howard Porter made-to-order Hardox steel tippers that carry the 210-tonne payload in 50/80/80-tonne configuration, while Lusty makes the two 45-tonne payload ‘bowl’ tippers. All-up, the triples are grossing out at close to 300-tonnes, and the fleet transports around 16,000-tonnes each full working day.

Scanias have been pounding the well-made ironstone roads since the mine opened. Recently, the company decided to speed-limit the trucks down from 80 km/h to 60 km/h, to help preserve the road surface, reduce wear and tear on the trucks and the trailers to promote even greater uptime availability and productivity.

The lower limit contributes towards operational profitability, as well as giving drivers plenty of time to avoid unplanned interactions with the native wildlife: from wallabies to crocodiles, packs of wild pigs and even the odd errant bovine sometimes encountered on the haul runs.

The mine harvests three grades of bauxite ore, and quantities are precisely extracted in line with orders from a selection of long-term Chinese customers. The highest-grade is prized for its quality, with blended grades also in strong demand.

Metro Mining is planning to ramp up its production from 3.5 wet metric tonnes (WMT) in 2019 to 6 WMT annually by the end of 2021, with 17 years of production expected to follow at the 6 m/t rate.

The Bauxite Hills mine only uses Scania haul trucks, and the entire camp and processing and conveying operation is also powered by a fleet of five Scania 600 kVa generators, which also employ the Swedish V8 engine configuration. These were installed by Scania agent Shellby Power, based in Brisbane.

“The trucks have been very successful for us,” says Graham Tanner, General Manager and Site Senior Executive at the Bauxite Hills Mine that is home to 130 workers at any one time.

“They have proven themselves in the first 18 months of operation, pulling up to 210-tonnes night and day, and the aftersales support from Scania has been exceptional. We’re working at about 98 per cent uptime which is almost unheard of and unbeatable given the harsh operating conditions.

“We have a very close working relationship with the Scania team so if we need anything, we know we can just pick up the phone. Several Scania executives have visited the site to see our operation. We’re also using the Scania fleet monitoring system, reactively at present, to give us insight into how and why incidents may occur,” says Tanner.

“As an example of how Scania goes the extra mile, Rob Taylor (Scania GM of Mining and Resources) sent a bullbar for each truck to the mine, and a technician to show us exactly how to fit them. That’s great service.

“The drivers love the Scania trucks for their cab comfort and quietness, and the power of the V8. The trucks have been very reliable in service,” Graham says. “Since I have joined the company, we have added a new R 620 and a second-hand R 730 that had been well-used but still performs well. As we expand our output, we will add more Scania trucks to the business.

“A further Scania advantage has been the driver training. We had a trainer come out early on and he assessed all of the drivers we had then, and it was well worth it, both from the point of view of identifying potentially bad habits but also explaining how the technology on the trucks works, so that we get the best possible efficiency from them,” Graham says.
Daniel McGillivray, Mining Supervisor, says the trucks don’t get cold.

“Aside from crib breaks during a shift, the trucks are on the road around-the-clock. They are refuelled once per shift, and the trailers are greased once per day,” he said.

Scania’s mine specification includes an elevated ride height chassis, a 9-tonne front axle and two 16-tonne drive axles. The 730hp engine delivers 3500Nm of torque and is Euro 5 with EEV compliant, using SCR only. The trucks can carry 1050-litres of fuel.

The Scania Opticruise transmission features Off-Road Mode to control selection of the 12-speed box and its two additional crawler gears, handy for starting off when fully loaded.
Hub reduction differentials and a 4.38:1 rear axle ratio help the trucks get off the mark without fuss, shift-after-shift.

The trucks use drum brakes, backed by Advanced Emergency Braking and ABS/EBS and the Scania R4100 retarder. Parabolic steel leaf springs all round modulate the ride.

The Scania V8s are run on 250, 500 and 1500-hour service intervals and are maintained onsite by a team of technicians, equipped with Scania-supplied diagnosis and computer systems. For the trucks pulling the triples, 500 hours equates to around 18,000km.

Each of the trucks is thoroughly washed off prior to entering the workshop and is then treated to a detailed inspection.
“We have really seen the benefits of having the Scanias in service on the site and we’re now talking to Robert Taylor and Murray Schneider at Scania Mining about our plans for turning over the fleet at the appropriate time,” Graham Tanner says.

According to Murray Schneider, Scania Mining Services Account Manager, the R-series V8s have performed to expectation.

“We had no doubt that the R-series would be able to deliver high uptime and reliability, despite the climatic conditions, ultra-remote location, the haul roads and the 24-hour work cycles,” he says.

Driver Barry Abel, a carpenter by training, works two-weeks on and two-weeks off along with the rest of the crew at Metro Mining. When he’s not driving for Metro, he drives a Kenworth cab-over for another operator, running from Cairns to Brisbane.

“The Scania’s comfort and the driver’s seat and driving position are great, you can adjust the seat in so many ways. At the end of a shift you don’t feel like you have been working for 12-hours,” he says.

“The way the Scania drives is very predictable and secure. You always feel connected to the road, but not beaten up by it. You always know where the truck is going. The surface can be very rough at the loading points, but it is only when you see the other Scania cabs rocking on their suspension do you realise how much movement there is. The driver is not actually feeling it behind the wheel.

“I have never driven a truck with such an effective retarder, either,” he says.

“The R 730 has so much grunt, we only drop three gears at almost 200-tonnes of payload coming up the rise from the creek crossing. The gearbox changes very smoothly, which was another revelation. When I heard we were getting automated gear-shifting transmissions I thought I would hate it, but it makes life so easy for the driver.

“The layout of the dashboard is another positive, with all the switchgear neatly laid out at your fingertips, which means you can concentrate on the road,” Barry says.