Product feature: Komatsu D475A-8
Late last year, West Coast miner Whyte Gold took delivery of one of the largest and most sophisticated bulldozers in New Zealand
Purchased to service a claim in the glacier region behind Greymouth, a five-truck convoy carried the 115-tonne machine 500 kilometres on journey from Lyttleton outside Christchurch to its new base at Rimu, after the unit had been partially dismantled into legally transportable loads prior to transportation.
Komatsu says the machine marks the start of a new phase in the development of the veteran gold mining company on a long-established site, until recently believed to have been worked out.
Company principal Iain Whyte conducted tests that convinced him that there’s plenty of new material lying deeper in the substructure. He says he believes the claim can be worked for at least another eight years using techniques he has developed to access the site under increasingly stringent ecological controls.
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The Komatsu D475A-8 is one of the first delivered by the Japanese specialist in the southern hemisphere
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The Komatsu D475A-8, one of the first delivered by the Japanese specialist in the southern hemisphere, will be key to anchor to the operations. The bulldozer is the largest in Komatsu’s range with levels of emission control at the leading edge of heavy machine capability.
The machine is fitted with sophisticated electronic controls that are essential to efficient and cost-effective operating backed up by telemetry continually flowing to Japan and Australia.
Komatsu says the new bulldozer is capable of extracting and crushing material with unmatched efficiency of time and materials, which will limit and manage the impact on the land. Operations are made easier with electronic control of the work equipment, including blade auto pitch and ripper auto return.
Additionally, there’s the potential for future expansion to Intelligent Machine Control, incorporating remote control and automation.
"Some say I would be better served with a smaller machine, but this bulldozer can extract substantial material with a single pass, so it’s actually in use far less than any alternative method," says Iain.
Whyte Gold had wound back its operations on a nearby site at Dungaville to comply with directions of the Department of Conservation and the Crown Minerals Act, and it had sold its first D475 bulldozer, a previous model, to a local coal mining company.
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Whyte Gold will use its new Komatsu to open-cut between 25 and 35m into the site to reach the new level
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"I was left with enough to keep ticking over, but I’ve worked with a lot of good local people and I felt I owed it to them, and to their future, to keep prospecting," Iain says. "I tested a lot of claims, mainly on old workings. I figured the old guys didn’t tunnel for nothing.
"Whyte Gold’s new site was believed to have been mined out, but the previous miners worked only the top level. Further down, there’s a wash with strong content."
Whyte Gold will use its new Komatsu to open-cut between 25 and 35 metres into the site to reach the new level.
Komatsu positioned technicians at Whyte Gold’s purpose-built hardstand to assist with the final assembly of the massive machine.
"It was fully built up and tested in Japan before it was shipped to New Zealand," Len Higgins, territory sales manager, West Coast/Marlborough/Nelson says.
"We had to semi-knock it down at Lyttleton in order to be able to transport it across Arthur’s Pass."
The rebuild commenced within hours of the 75-tonne main frame arriving at Whyte Gold on one low loader accompanied by another four trucks of essential components.
For more information, visit komtasu.co.nz.
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