Twenty-four rock trucks and dozens of other late-model heavy equipment items will be sold to the highest bidders – regardless of price – when Ritchie Bros Auctioneers holds a large unreserved mining equipment auction in Australia on behalf of Downer EDI Mining and 20 other owners in September this year.

So far, there are over 430 items being sold on auction day, including late model motor scrapers, wheel loaders, hydraulic excavators, motor graders, crawler tractors and water trucks.

"We are very pleased to be selling such a high calibre, clean, well-maintained mining equipment package – it’s a credit to Downer EDI Mining," Simon Ross, Ritchie Bros Regional Manager said.

"The auction is still two months away, but we’ve already got a great selection of equipment to offer our customers and everything will be sold to the highest bidder on sale day, regardless of price. We’ll also be adding consignments right up until sale day."

Downer EDI Mining is one of Australia’s major providers of open-cut and underground mining and mine development services. Downer EDI Mining has entered into an agreement with Ritchie Bros to sell more than 40 heavy earthmoving equipment items at the upcoming Gold Coast auction, including three 2005 and one 2003 Komatsu hydraulic excavators; four late-model Cat crawler tractors (two D10R and two D9R); 16 Cat 777D rock trucks; two 1994 Cat 775B 35,000 L water trucks; five late-model wheel loaders; and three late-model motor graders. The equipment was used in a recently completed mining project in Laos.

The unreserved public auction starts at 8:00 am on Tuesday, September 18 at the permanent Ritchie Bros auction site on the Gold Coast. The auction site is located at the corner of Burnside Road and the Pacific Highway in Yatala, Queensland. Interested bidders can find a complete listing of equipment in the auction, including photos, on the Ritchie Bros web site at www.rbauction.com.