Tag Archives: Wyoming

Austin Engineering eyes US expansion with Wyoming government-backed grant, loan package

Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , ,

Austin Engineering says it has achieved a significant development milestone and moved a step closer to undertaking a major rebuild and expansion of its US manufacturing base in Casper, Wyoming, after securing the benefit of a $20 million grant and loan package through the City of Mills, Wyoming and the Wyoming Business Council.

The funds are designated for the construction of a proposed new circa-69,000-sq.ft (6,410-sq.m) manufacturing facility and a 15,000-sq.ft paint and blast building on the site of Austin’s existing manufacturing facility, on land already owned by Austin. The grant and loan facility is made to the City of Mills, which will build the facility to Austin’s requirements, and lease it to the company.

North America is Austin’s strongest performing business unit on a revenue and margin basis, the company says. The expansion of the Casper facility would significantly increase the manufacturing capacity for Austin’s customised mining haul truck bodies primarily for the US and Canada. It will also be capable of manufacturing other product lines such as mining buckets, water tanks, and tyre handlers.

The $15 million grant and $5 million loan package application was approved by the State Loan and Investment Board. It requires final approval from the Wyoming State Attorney General and the Austin Board after a full review of the business case. The Austin Board does not expect to give final development approval for the new facility until the end of the year after a full business case has been completed and assessed.

If final approval is given, construction could commence sometime in late financial year 2024 (to end-June 2024) following board approval, final facility design and permitting, with the build forecast to take up to two years. The construction will not affect the existing production output and it is envisaged that it would create circa-50 new permanent jobs in addition to the current 110-strong staff base.

As part of the investment, Austin would need to commit a further $5 million capital funding for the facility, the majority of which would need to be spent during its 2025 and 2026 financial years.

As part of the package, Austin has agreed to donate approximately 25 acres (10.1 ha) of land, that is mostly industrially unusable, due to being part of a floodplain, and not required for production or storage, to the City of Mills for future community development projects and public facilities.

In the last 12 months, Austin has undertaken expansions of its Indonesian and Chilean-based facilities, enhancing both output and manufacturing efficiencies across the business. However, this investment would be the biggest undertaken to expand capacity.

Austin CEO and Managing Director, David Singleton, said: “We are extremely pleased to have been awarded this funding package from the Wyoming Business Council to undertake a much-needed rebuild of our existing facilities. As well as being part of the local community in the City of Mills since 1940, and Wyoming since 1938, our Casper facility is the hub of our rapidly growing North American operations.

“North America’s financial year 2023 revenues were up 13% year-on-year. We had recently taken a short-term lease on a facility to meet increased orders in the region. A larger, permanent facility would enable Austin to increase its output further in line with expected growth.

“This rebuild will also ensure Austin US stays at the forefront of designing and building customised truck bodies, mining buckets and other equipment. The determination to improve mining efficiency in North America has seen a strong growth in demand for trays and buckets, particularly in recent years, and is expected to continue.

Austin Engineering’s ultra-lightweight High Performance Tray finds its market

Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Austin Engineering says it has received orders for, or been notified of award of, in excess of 210 truck tray orders in the December 2022 to January 2023 period, improving the company’s order book and revenue outlook for the second half of 2023.

The orders over the period represent approximately 40% (approximately 500 expected in the 2023 financial year) of orders received in a normal full year.

These orders have come from multiple customers across the globe and will be manufactured and delivered from Austin’s four operating sites located in the Asia Pacific (Australia and Indonesia), North America (Wyoming) and South America (Chile), it said.

Production of the trays is either already underway or planned to commence shortly, with most of the deliveries scheduled through 2023 but with significant revenue to be booked in the second half of the 2023 financial year.

Approximately 120 of the truck tray orders are for the recently launched, ultra-lightweight High Performance Tray (HPT). The HPT can, according to Austin, deliver significant additional ore per year due to its lighter weight and increased volume efficiency. In an early application, the truck body design could deliver an additional 45,000 t/y of ore per tray compared with previous comparable truck trays developed by Austin.

Austin expects the market interest in the HPT to continue due to its attractive design and operational benefits, it said. Austin has received several proposals to tailor the design for different geographies, suggesting it will become a mainstay in the company’s global product portfolio, complementing Austin’s existing four truck tray types.

Austin has previously announced manufacturing capacity expansions to deal with an anticipated surge in demand, which has now occurred. The expansions, now largely complete, were in Indonesia, Chile and in Western Australia, where a specialised bucket facility for Austin and Mainetec buckets has been commissioned.

Austin CEO and Managing Director, David Singleton, said: “The increased orders reflect an increased win rate in contracts across the business aided by the release of improved product designs such as the HPT, which is receiving significant market interest because of its attractive operational efficiencies.

“We had confidence to commit capital to capacity expansions at some of our major manufacturing sites, namely Indonesia, Chile and Australia. We have also invested in upgraded equipment in the workshops to enable efficiency and quality improvements across our product lines.

“Pleasingly, the capacity expansions have aligned with increased orders ensuring customer delivery timeframes can be maintained. The continuing and increasing strength in the order pipeline suggests that high utilisation levels in all jurisdictions will continue.

“We believe that our commitment to product design and development, our focus on cost control and developing capacity to meet our mining customer needs is driving this improvement in workload.”

Cementation, Sandvik and Micon achieve flexible raisebore-based sinking at Solvay Chemicals #5 shaft

Energy minerals, Explosives and blasting, Mine shafts and equipment, Mineral project development, Mining industry recognition, Mining safety, Mining services, , , , , , ,

Cementation Americas has announced the completion of the full faced raisebored raise at Solvay Chemicals #5 shaft in Green River, Wyoming, USA.

The project required the company to complete a 22 ft (6.7 m) diameter shaft, complete with concrete liner, from surface to a depth of 1,506 ft (459 m).

Concrete liner thickness increased as the depth of the shaft increased, so the initial concept was to complete a pilot slash raise with a raisebore drill and then slash from the top down to achieve the differing diameters to accommodate concrete liner thickness, the company explained. Cementation instead proposed a full face raisebored shaft solution with variable diameters for each section.

“We worked closely with Sandvik to design, engineer and manufacture a reaming head that could be diminished in diameter rather than manufacturing different diameters of outside wings,” Cementation said. “Final design allowed for five diameter options; maximum of 26.67 ft (8.1 m), down to 24.48 ft, in increments of 6.6 in (168 mm). The 26.67 ft. diameter reamer consisted of 12 individual sections, 46 cutters and weighed 136,000 lbs (61,689 kg).”

Following completion of 68 ft deep collar excavation and lining, Cementation’s Strata 950 Raise Drill was set up over the collar and a 16 in diameter pilot hole was drilled with Micon’s rotary vertical drilling system (RVDS). When the completed pilot hole was surveyed, the total deviation from vertical was found to be less than 4 in over entire length of pilot hole, according to the company.

Based on the pilot hole survey, it was determined that the first leg of the shaft would be reamed to 26.13-ft diameter for 588 ft of shaft, followed by 25.02-ft diameter for the next 285 ft of shaft and 24.47-ft diameter for the final 535 ft of shaft to surface.

Reaming of the shaft was completed on April 24 and the Cementation shaft crews are now in the process of completing the shaft lining.

This raise was one of the largest ever pulled in the Americas and was completed without incident, the company noted.

Its success was the result of a collaborative effort by all parties involved by providing the best technical solution for the Solvay Chemicals #5 Shaft, which is part of the company’s trona operations in Green River.

Pictured is the Solvay reaming head at the Sandvik workshop in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Austin Engineering, Melter celebrate new pact with Peñasquito truck bodies order

Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , ,

Austin Engineering has entered into an agreement with Mexico-based equipment manufacturer Melter to broaden its product delivery and service capabilities in the US and the northern region of South America.

This agreement has already delivered a significant new contract with a world-class miner, according to Austin, with Melter set to manufacture Austin-designed truck bodies for the initial supply of five lightweight Ultima bodies for Newmont’s Peñasquito gold operation in Mexico.

In addition to building truck bodies, Melter will also provide local support and maintenance assistance to Newmont, supported by Austin’s US-based teams in Casper, Wyoming.

“Newmont is the world’s largest gold miner and there is potential for further sales to this customer,” Austin said.

The Melter partnership is the latest iteration of Austin’s roll out of “hub-and-spoke” networks in the Americas to support Austin’s central US manufacturing hub in Casper.

Austin says it is establishing “spokes” closer to significant mining areas via new facilities or through partnerships and preferred supplier arrangements. The objective of this approach is to reduce the logistics cost and complexities of delivering truck bodies over large distances. As part of this strategy, in instances where transport costs are high, the Casper facility will provide designs and kits for local assembly to the end user facilities. This approach is intended to improve the competitiveness of Austin’s Casper facility and increase market share.

The hub-and-spoke initiative is part of an “advanced manufacturing strategy” being deployed by Austin following its strategic review of global operations completed in July, which identified several business optimisation and growth opportunities.

Austin’s Casper base has been further supported by the lease of a 23,000 sq.ft (2,137 sq.m) manufacturing site at Fort McMurray in Alberta from which Austin is able to better service its customers in the remote regions of western Canada though better product delivery logistics, shorter travel times, and local service and maintenance teams.

Austin CEO and Managing Director, David Singleton, said: “We are very pleased to have formed a partnership with Melter, which enables Austin to grow its service offering in a market where we don’t currently have manufacturing capabilities. Our partnership with Melter allows Austin to competitively deliver on its contract to supply Austin-designed truck bodies to Newmont’s Peñasquito operations and we look forward to growing our partnership in the future.

“We are continuing to review other potential spoke locations to support our Casper facility and delivering on our US strategy to improve our equipment delivery logistics and reduce overall transport costs, especially into remote areas, making our product offering more cost competitive.”

Melter Chief Executive Officer, Carlos Uribe, said: “We are pleased to develop our strong relationship with Austin Engineering, one of the leading OEMs in the global mining industry, as their regional supplier to build and support their truck bodies and other equipment on and off mine sites in Mexico including at Newmont.

“Over the last 30-plus years Melter has built a completely integrated manufacturing system for high-spec metal-mechanic components, as well as a highly committed and qualified 800 people strong team aimed at delivering the highest client satisfaction in the USMCA market; we are honoured to be able to use our capabilities to deliver Austin’s mining products both locally and potentially overseas.”