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Digging deep into construction machinery news

Thu 29 May 2014

Big Liebherr number four goes to work for Downer Down Under!

Brisbane based Downer Mining already have three R 9800’s in their machinery portfolio operating in Western Australia and Queensland and now an additional unit has gone to work at Idemitsu’s Boggabri Mine in New South Wales. The massive 800 tonne machine was assembled on site by Liebherr-Australia Pty Ltd’s Mt Thorley branch and was officially handed over in March. This giant machine joins a Downer Mining fleet, which is estimated to be valued in the region of $1.2 billion AUD. The R 9800 features a 47.5m3 bucket, which shifts around 80 tonnes per pass, enabling the machine to load 240 tonne plus dumptrucks in just three passes. There are two engine options depending on customer’s requirements, consisting of two x Cummins, or as fitted in the new Downer machine, the MTU 12V 4000 which deliver an impressive 3,800hp. The R 9800 is ideally suited to loading 240 t, 290 t, and 320 t, class dumptrucks, but its perfect partner would have to be Liebherr’s 363 tonne payload T 284. In the Boggabri Mine site the R 9800 is engaged in strip mining operations, excavating and loading the coal overburden into 930E trucks. It is estimated that the machines current excavation production is 2700 BCM (Bank Cubic Metres) per hour. Apart from a visit to the factory in Colmar, France, where these giants are manufactured, the closest most of us in Europe have got to an R 9800 was during last year’s Bauma trade fair in Munich, where an example of the models giant bucket was drawing the crowds for a photo opportunity! The Digger Man Blog would like to thank David Croft of Liebherr GB and Renata Hjelmstrom of Liebherr-Australia Pty Ltd, for their kind assistance with this blog post.    

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