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Digging deep into construction machinery news

Komatsu trucks date with the “gas axe”

Thu 12 Jan 2017

Komatsu trucks date with the “gas axe”

Regular readers will recall that we have been following Michael’s exploits down in Australia for many years. We had not heard from Michael for a while so I was delighted when this latest batch of photos flew into my inbox recently. img_2339 With mining in Australia still relatively in the doldrums a lot of kit is just sitting around and decaying and although there have been some signs of an improvement in the Australian mining industry some companies are taking decisions to dispense of some older kit for scrap or spare parts. 15942762_10158534472135497_624160574_o Photo: Michael Bullock stood by a partially dismembered Komatsu 985 truck.  These trucks actually started life at BHP bauxite mine in boddington, before being bought by Michael's previous employer and then used in bauxite mining at Boddington gold mine where Michael used to load them operating a Hitachi EX1200. 15933835_10158534471670497_1840750710_o Talking about the trucks demise Michael said, "When trying the sell them due to no work, our plant manager discovered that Mt Gibson Iron Ore were the only other contractor in Western Australia still running this model. Hence demand for them was low.  The 4 running ones were sold at auction making just $8 AUD each approx 4 non runners were sold at approx $2-3k each". This series of photos from Michael depict the sad gradual cutting up of these trucks which were once the pride and joy of the fleet back in the day. 15967400_10158534476840497_786478770_o-1 Powered by a 12 cylinder Komatsu SA12V140 engine offering a power output of 783kw (1050hp) these machines could carry a heaped load capacity of 64m3, but for 4 of them at least, they have moved their last loads of dirt  and indeed reached the end of the road. 15942562_10158534477135497_1499010784_o Michael also told me about some big Bell trucks which are currently awaiting the same fate, but more about that in a future post here on the Digger Man Blog.  

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