Curry Supply Company, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of commercial service vehicles, has up-fitted 15 Western Star trucks for a gold mining operation in Guyana, South America. Guyana lies in the northeast region of South America with access to the Atlantic Ocean to the north and more eastern parts of the country. Venezuela lies to the west, Suriname to the southeast and Brazil to the south. Guyana has a tropical climate, which is very tough on heavy duty vehicles and other mining equipment.
“Sierra Freightliner approached us with the challenge,” says Rick Romney, Western Regional Manager for Curry Supply Company. “The operation required heavy duty trucks properly up-fitted to meet the rigours of the humid tropical environment. In addition, the trucks needed to be shipped to Guyana, so access to a port was required. Our long-standing relationship and ability to install and service from our Houston location assisted with becoming the preferred up-fitting partner.”
The order included six – 6×6 straight flatbeds designed to haul 20 ft long ISO containers weighing 30 t, five – 6×6, 7,000-gallon (approx. 26,000 litres) fuel tankers, and four – 6×6 dump trucks with Curry Supply Ox dump bodies.
“We really appreciated the swift and thorough support that Curry Supply provided throughout the entire process,” said Sierra Freightliner’s Sales Manager, Jim Pescitelli.
The fuel and flatbed trucks will play a crucial role in keeping the mine up and running by transport diesel fuel and supplies to the mine site, which sits a great distance from the port. In addition, the gold mining operation will need to keep the roads well-maintained to keep the supplies flowing smoothly.
“Guyana has a tropical climate and there is generally a good amount of rainfall throughout the year. The roads are not paved and consist of dirt and mud,” says Romney. “This required Curry to upfit four- 6×6 heavy off-road trucks with Ox dump bodies. These trucks are perfectly suited for maintaining the roads in this environment.”
Curry’s Houston, Texas facility executed the upfit order. “A key benefit of Curry Supply is our export capabilities. Our manufacturing facility in Texas is about 6 miles from the port. We can easily upfit and then export our products around the world from this location,” states Jason Ritchey, President/Owner, Curry Supply.