Tag Archives: cranes

Franna launches Minemaster range of cranes for mining applications

Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, , , , , ,

Franna, a Terex brand, has unveiled its Minemaster range, a series of pick and carry cranes with lift capacities ranging from 15 t to 40 t that, it says, come fully equipped and ready to work in mining applications.

“The Franna Minemaster range has been specifically designed to meet the vigorous safety requirements and complex operating environment of the modern day mine site,” Franna said. “Each individual crane can be customised to meet local requirements, with an extensive list of mine specification options available for customers to choose from.”

Danny Black, General Manager at Franna, explained: “Franna has been supplying the global mining industry with robust lifting solutions for over 40 years, working alongside a number of leading contractors such as Rio Tinto, BHP and Glencore.

“In line with our growing export sales, we have developed this range to meet the needs of the markets and industries we serve. Whilst mining has always been at the forefront of the Franna business, many of our international customers are not fully aware of the numerous mine specifications that we can offer. As well as helping to educate the marketplace, our Franna Minemaster range provides mining contractors with heavy-duty lifting solutions that are tailored to their needs and do not compromise on safety or performance.”

Suitable for open-pit and underground mines, the Franna Minemaster range comes with reduced initial setup costs, high utilisation and lower cost per tonne, the company said. They also have a proven ability of operating safely on the challenging terrains commonly associated with mining (for example, poor underfoot conditions).

James Hoyt, Director at PT Berlian Cranserco Indonesia, a Franna Cranes distributor, said: “Indonesian mining companies have been using Franna cranes in coal and hard-rock mines to support underground, open-pit, workshop, port and blasting operations for many years. Frannas are the most utilised support equipment assets on the mine site.”

The company concluded: “Franna cranes require no outriggers, which allows the operator to set up and start working almost immediately. The compact footprint and unique design of each machine provides unrivalled access to tunnels and other areas of limited space on the mine site. From lifting and laying pipes to changing out engines, it is easy to see why Franna cranes are a popular choice for mining contractors.”

Allison Transmission adds to off-highway propulsion solutions with TerraTran

Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for mines, , , , , , ,

Allison Transmission has launched TerraTran™, its latest innovation in propulsion solutions purpose-built for the global construction and mining markets.

A variant of Allison’s proven 4000 Series™ transmission, the TerraTran is purpose built for off-highway applications such as mobile cranes, articulated dump trucks and wide-body mining dump trucks.

TerraTran was developed based on voice of customer input, which indicated a need for the proven reliability and durability of Allison’s 4000 Series transmission, but with increased horsepower, torque and gross vehicle weight capability, while also adding fast reverse capability, the designer and manufacturer of conventional and electrified vehicle propulsion solutions company said.

TerraTran has maximum power capability of up to 800 hp, or 597 kW, and torque capability up to 3,025 lb/ft (4,502 kg/m), dependent upon the application in which it is deployed. TerraTran also features seven forward and two reverse speeds. With the additional fast reverse, TerraTran delivers improved productivity and optimised vocational efficiency, according to the company, with field tests conducted over around two years demonstrating that TerraTran delivers enhanced drivability, gradeability and manoeuvrability under demanding operating conditions.

In partnership with Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG), headquartered in Xuzhou, China, the TerraTran will be launched first in XCMG’s all-terrain crane application.

Kartik Ramanan, Executive Director, Global Off-Highway Sales, Customer Support and Service Engineering at Allison Transmission, said: “Collaborating with XCMG on their all-terrain crane application is a successful example of Allison working closely with our OEM partners to develop innovative solutions that deliver unparalleled performance and productivity to our end user customers, all in an effort to Improve the Way the World Works.

“TerraTran leverages Allison’s more than 65 years of experience moving earth, minerals and precious metals around the world where Allison Automatics have proven themselves in some of the most challenging conditions imaginable.”

Condra to show off crane building abilities on South Africa coal mine dragline contract

Bulk handling, Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining services, , , , ,

Condra is to manufacture a “technically complex crane” to service a dragline at a coal mine in Mpumalanga, South Africa, following a contract win by its authorised agent for the Witbank region, GTB Industrial Services.

The order, won against strong competition, calls for a maintenance crane capable of working within the very constricted area of the dragline house. This contains motors and gearboxes controlling the excavating boom and dragline, and large hydraulic cylinders to control the pontoons, meaning space is at a premium.

Condra said: “Condra proved better able than its rivals to meet the complex criteria of the specification, chief of which was the requirement that the hoist be capable of separating completely from the maintenance crane, and moving away along individual roof beams as an independently operated underslung hoist to recover machine components to the central working space.”

The hoist must also be able to independently deliver loads to transport waiting outside the dragline house, should component repair within the house not be possible, the company added.

The requirement was met by designing the crane’s 12.5 t hoist as a beam changing machine, and fitting the crane with an interlock to prevent the hoist from leaving it unless the crane is securely connected to the selected beam, according to Condra. Power to the hoist is supplied via a cable drum instead of by the crane’s cable loop system.

Managing Director, Marc Kleiner, said Condra was able to draw upon previous experience of dragline maintenance cranes, overcoming engineering complexities to deliver a machine that allows a single hoist to carry out work that would more usually be undertaken by multiple units.

“Our design office tabled an innovative proposal that was also able to deliver more working room than our competitors,” he said. “We can quite often pull a rabbit out of the hat when nobody else can, but we think that this time it was also our ability to manufacture within a short lead time that helped win the order (lead time for the contract is just 14 weeks).”

A key component of Condra’s overall design for the crane is its manual beam interlock, which incorporates an anti-derailment limit switch to prevent hoist movement until beams are locked together, the company said.

Besides rendering impossible any movement of the hoist close to the end of the beam, this design also delivers the large tolerances needed to cope with beam movement when the dragline moves position, according to the company. Dragline movement takes place by ‘walking’ on pontoons repositioned for each step, tilting the machine house forward and placing stress on the structure as well as on the crane itself.

A hoist from Condra’s K-Series was chosen for the design because of its adaptability and particularly robust construction, well suited to these stresses, the company said.

K-Series hoists are produced in three main configurations: foot-mounted, underslung monorail and double-rail crab. Fully covered hoists in the series provide lifting capacities to 32 t, while open-drum units have capacities in excess of 250 t (open-drum and closed-drum Condra K-Series hoists are featured in the photo, painted green).

Features on all models include electromagnetic DC disc brakes, standard frame-size motors with parallel rotors, double-acting limit switches, solid bronze rope guides and totally enclosed splash-lubricated gearboxes. Lifting and reeving arrangements include centre lift.

Condra says it will deliver the dragline maintenance crane during the month following the easing of COVID-19 quarantine restrictions.

Verton’s Everest 6 does the heavy lifting at Roy Hill

Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , ,

Verton Australia says iron ore miner Roy Hill has purchased its remote-controlled load orientation system, the Everest 6.

Designed to dramatically improve safety in crane operations, the Everest is a load management system designed to control and rotate a load to its target destination.

Everest eliminates the need for human held taglines to control suspended loads, thereby improving safety and productivity for crane operations, Verton says.

The Everest 6 and R5 models that are being employed at Roy Hill’s iron ore operations, in the Pilbara of Western Australia, can manage loads of up to 20 t and 5 t, respectively, while significantly improving workplace safety and efficiency, according to Verton.

Verton CEO, Trevor Bourne, said: “The Everest series is a great example of how mining companies are committed to reducing the risk of crane incidents by ensuring no human contact is required for managing suspended loads, with tag line use and associated workloads removed.”

Roy Hill has provided positive feedback on how the Everest performed during a recent mine shutdown when they replaced an 18 t transformer, according to Bourne.

“The Everest responded perfectly in smooth rotation with the load on the hook without causing the crane rope to twist and there was no need for taglines during the lift so Roy Hill was able to keep the riggers out of the line of fire during lifting operations,” he said.

Located 340 km southeast of Port Hedland, Roy Hill has an integrated mine, rail and port facilities and produces 55 Mt/y of iron ore, with approval to increase to 60 Mt/y.

Condra delivers fully automated overhead crane to South Africa PGM operation

Automation, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , ,

Condra says it has developed fully automated overhead crane capability, with the first machine of this type recently delivered to a South Africa platinum group metals operation.

Marc Kleiner, Condra’s Managing Director, said the company was making full use of new developments in sensors, controls and software to offer a very precise positioning capability in automated applications, with the company aware of an industry shift towards more automated operations.

“This is a capability that we will offer to our customers as an option,” Kleiner said. “We will mainly, but not solely, target the copper mines, especially tankhouse and copper-leaching applications where we have extensive experience.”

Condra’s announcement follows the increasing sophistication of its semi-automated installations, which began in 2003 with a grabbing crane installed at a Durban spice company to pick spices and transport them to specific points for release over hoppers, the company said.

At Sibanye Stillwater’s Marikana platinum mine (owned by Lonmin prior to Sibanye-Stillwater’s acquisition of the company), the fully-automated machine recently installed and commissioned is a 16 t, 16 m-span double-girder electric overhead travelling grabbing crane. It features a customer-specified mechanical rope grab in place of the hydraulic alternative to deliver the improved durability of mechanical operation within Marikana’s abrasive operating environment, Condra said.

There are dual hoists in the design; one to raise and lower the load, the other to mechanically close the grab by means of an internal sheave arrangement to overcome the spring-loaded open state.

Variable speed drives are fitted throughout the crane, delivering maximum speeds of 10 m/min on the lift, and 20 m/min and 40 m/min on the cross-travel and long-travel respectively. Four long-travel motors deliver the materials handling equivalent of four-wheel-drive, enabling automated control of all four wheels for precise crane positioning accurate to within 5 mm.

The crane is fully automated with a manual override, according to Condra, and is programmed by an operator from a remotely located control room, where on-screen monitoring is complemented by visual monitoring capability via closed-circuit television.

Condra’s fully automated option applies across the company’s product offering of single girder and double-girder overhead travelling cranes, gantry cranes, bridge cranes and cantilever cranes for markets worldwide, it said.

These machines go up to heavy duty Class 4, with a focus on product quality and reliability to the standards of ISO, GOST and other internationally recognised quality control bodies, Condra said.

Two lines of hoists are manufactured in several standard models suited to most mining, industrial and general applications, from 1 t to 500 t, with motors bought from external suppliers.