Tag Archives: Jari Tuorila

New ML5 lifts MacLean’s elevated work platform to new heights

MacLean is adding to its elevated work platform product suite with the launch of a new mining vehicle: the ML5 Multi-Lift.

The latest in the line of MacLean 5 Series, next-generation mining vehicles is now commercially available for mining customers around the globe as the first unit, a battery electric model, gets ready to ship from the MacLean production facility in Collingwood, Ontario, to its eventual destination and deployment in Australia.

IM heard all about this development at the IMARC show in Sydney in early November 2022, meeting MacLean Engineering’s Dan Stern, Senior Product Manager, and Peter Black, Technical Sales Manager.

The newest addition to the MacLean utility vehicle (UTV) product line was initially designed as a safe and purpose-built alternative to the use of integrated tool carriers (ITs) in underground operations across Australia. This specific application context – mine services installation and repair work from a certified elevated work platform with a 6.5-m working height and a 4.5-t payload – was the foundation of the ML5’s engineered design for safety, productivity and versatility. And these design principles deliver a value proposition that is relevant to underground mines around the globe and particularly in Australia.

The ML5’s safety and versatility dividends are embedded in the unit’s OEM design from the ground up. The slew boom range of motion delivers best-in-class coverage, along with in-basket operator controls and remote drive. The boom’s hydraulic and mechanical linkages are also doubled-up for contingency, to increase operator safety, MacLean explained. And a quick hitch design allows for easy switch-out between multiple baskets, as well as the use of forks or a jib boom for material handling and general underground construction.

“MacLean product design has always been about safety and productivity, and this new ML5 Multi-Lift continues in that tradition of solving a specific problem underground in a way that engineers in the protection of the worker in the real, underground environment, while also enhancing productivity on the specific application,” Bryson Lehman, Product Marketing Manager, Elevated Work Platforms, said. “Safety is our veins – Innovation in our DNA isn’t just a slogan, it’s the how and the why of MacLean product development.”

Maarten van Koppen, MacLean Vice President of Product Management, added: “We’re also excited to launch this new product because of how it complements our Elevated Work Platform product suite – the SL2 and SL3 Scissor Lifts, and the LR3 Boom Lift for high reach and heavy load mine services applications,. We are now able to offer a range of mine services installation and repair solutions to mines around the world, depending on their haulage ramp and drift sizes, the size and weight of the infrastructure being installed or repaired, and the working height. This is MacLean Application Intelligence in a nutshell – engineered solutions for the actual job underground.”

Jari Tuorila, General Manager, Australasia, for MacLean, said: “We can’t wait to see this first unit arrive in Australia in Q2. This continues the MacLean tradition of designing mobile equipment solutions for one particular part of the underground mining world, which are then taken around the globe to solve similar problems at different operations – each mine site is unique, but safety and productivity requirements are universal.”

MacLean SS5 battery-electric shotcrete sprayer to be tested at AngloGold’s Sunrise Dam

MacLean is set to showcase its SS5 battery-electric vehicle (BEV) Shotcrete Sprayer at the Underground Operators Conference 2023 (UGOPS), in Brisbane, Australia, next week, but it also has one eye on the unit’s first mine site trial at the AngloGold Ashanti-owned Sunrise Dam operation in Western Australia.

Attendees of UGOPS will get a first-hand look at the EV Series™ product on the company’s booth. This battery-electric shotcrete sprayer has been put through its paces at the Maclean Research & Training Facility in Sudbury, Ontario, and is equipped with the likes of Quickscan thickness imaging and Chemsave accelerant savings technologies.

Alongside celebrating its 50th year of existence as an Ontario-headquartered company, 2023 is a landmark year for MacLean Australia, with multiple MacLean BEVs starting to arrive in-country to be introduced to Australian mining companies and mining contractors. One such contractor is Barminco, which is set to receive the SS5 for testing at Sunrise Dam. Sandvik’s 65-t-payload battery-electric truck, the TH665B, is also set for field testing at the same operation.

MacLean has had a full-service parts and technical support branch in Perth, Western Australia, for over a decade and, in 2021, opened a second service and support branch in Orange, New South Wales, to support a growing fleet of MacLean mining vehicles in underground mining hubs in the eastern region of the country.

Jari Tuorila, MacLean GM for Australasia, said: “We are really looking forward to the UGOPS event and showing – not just telling – the Australian mining industry exactly what the value proposition of MacLean EV Series product line is. When we say, ‘EV-proven, EV-ready’, we mean it. It’s not just a slogan. Over 50 MacLean BEVs have been commissioned around the mining world since the MacLean Fleet Electrification program was launched in 2015, with a quarter million operating hours logged, and we’re only at the starting line for Australia.

“Our message to our industry colleagues is simple – we have a diesel-free production support fleet option for you, right now. We can’t wait to welcome visitors to our booth to see the BEV shotcrete sprayer in person and speak with our team of technical experts, which will include product management and engineering colleagues from Canada.”

Patrick Marshall, MacLean’s Brisbane-based Vice President of Technology, added: “The UGOPS showcase is just the kick-off to a multi-stage introduction of MacLean EV Series technology to Australia across 2023. The minute the show closes on March 29th, the MacLean Australia team will be turning their attention to shipping the BEV SS5 unit to Barminco at Sunrise Dam, where it will be trialled by the contractor throughout the summer. We are committed to seeing this real-world trial succeed and then build on that success to more broadly introduce MacLean fleet electrification to the Australian industry.”