If you were out and about earlier in the week you may have seen a sparkling new yellow vehicle on the back of a truck being delivered to a mine site.
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The Canadian-built vehicle was an LR3 boom lift to provide heavy load capabilities in the mines.
Steve Thomas, account manager for MacLean Engineering said they were delivering an LR3 unit to Mount Isa Mines’ George Fisher zinc mine.
“’LR’ means load reach and ideally this machine can lift four tonne ventilation fans up eight metres,” Mr Thomas said.
Mr Thomas said the machine was designed in-house.
“The history of the machine is that we were approached by the mines department in Western Australia to develop a way to hang a vent fan more safely,” he said.
“We went to work and we’ve developed this machine that is certified by all the Australian standards.”
Mr Thomas explained how the unit worked.
“One of the sides will fall down, you load the vent fan on to the cradle, strap it down and you can operate it by the remote and raise it to where you need it,” he said.
Mr Thomas said the unit being delivered to Mount Isa was only the fourth of its kind in the world.
“It’s roughly $700,000 for the unit and we have different baskets depending on what you need the application for,” he said.
“The first one went to Glencore in Quebec, the second one went to Barminco in Western Australia, the third one is Rio Tinto Mongolia and this is the fourth,” he said.
“This is is for vent fans, we do one which is a flat deck so you can hang services or water piping from the basket.”
According to MacLean’s website they are “ engineered and purposedesigned to provide ultra-versatile, full-spectrum reach and heavy load capabilities in larger-heading mines. With an 8m working height, 8,000 lbs. of lifting capacity, and interchangeable baskets and attachments, the LR3 is ideally suited to a wide range of mine services installation as well as construction and maintenance applications.”