South32 Dendrobium Mine Takes On The Mighty ASC M8

Client Introduction

South32 Dendrobium Mine in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, is an existing underground mine, primarily producing metallurgical coal for steelmaking.

They have been producing this high-quality metallurgical coal, for 85 years. This coal is shipped around Australia and across the world as well.

South32 produce bauxite, alumina, aluminium, energy and metallurgical coal, manganese, nickel, silver, lead and zinc in Australia, Southern Africa and South America.

The Challenge

As a major player in the global mining market, South32 understands the sensitivities of working with coal dust. The mine is located within the Sydney metropolitan area.

Part of their Mining Licence requirement, is to ensure a dust-free working environment. It includes minimising airborne dust that can spread to the local community, living within 1 km of the mine site.

Prior to the involvement of ASC, South 32 was using a mechanical suction street sweeper. However, the street sweeper required far too much maintenance for the hours used. It had major problems working with dust control blowback. It did not meet the company’s air quality standards.

The terrain on their site is not ideal. It has large potholes, uneven, narrow roadways and steep inclines typical of any operational mine site worldwide.

This, coupled with a mix of black coal dust of all densities, rocks and wet; muddy areas, makes for a particularly harsh and challenging environment to keep clean and dust-free.

The Solution

South32 knew they had to replace their existing street sweeper.

They asked ASC’s Sweeper Specialist, Scott Campbell, to visit their site and recommend the best solution for their application.

After a site survey, Scott recommended the newly released cross over Industrial Street Sweeper, the ASC Eureka M8 Mine Spec sweeper.

It was the only machine available globally that could handle their harsh environment and needs.

After a successful demonstration, South 32 elected to proceed with the purchase of the ASC M8 machine. Scott Campbell has organised the delivery and an induction-training program with the company’s operators.

In the end, South 32 gained an environmental sweeper that would deliver many benefits.

It would give them 100% dust control, meeting stringent EPA target levels. Moreover, it will help them in the following ways as well:

• Be easy to drive as its cockpit has been designed for simplicity of use
• Easy to maintain mechanically and operationally
• Provide great manoeuvrability around the site, allowing access to areas their previous street sweeper could not clean.