52 E&MJ; • DECEMBER 2015 www.e-mj.com
C R A N E S & R I G G I N G
Look at the fleet list for a typical mine, and one will see
trucks, excavators, dozers, wheel loaders and other produc-
tion-orientated equipment. Underground, drill rigs, LHDs and
mine trucks predominate. If they appear at all, cranes usual-
ly only make a minor appearance, somewhere near the bot-
tom of the list.
The reason, of course, is that craneage is more often than
not supplied by the rental market, and unless there are very
sound economic reasons for doing so, individual mines rarely
need to commit to owning their own cranes. It is usually more
effective to hire in lifting capacity as and when it is needed,
rather than having the commitment of maintaining machines
that require regular safety certification yet may only be used
infrequently. The exception here is in the use of small truck
cranes, which typically provide fitters and electricians with
lifting capacity in their day-to-day maintenance and installa-
tion work.
So what types of cranes are most likely to be of use on a
mine? Working from the top, so to speak, tower cranes are
rarely used outside of major construction projects. They have
long-term lifting capacity, but do not have the level of flexi-
bility that most mines need. Nonetheless, there are excep-
tions, as the example from Syncrude given below illustrates.
And it was particularly surprising for the author to see a tower
Lifting Safety and Versatility
Mining often requires heavy lifting capabilities for both construction and regular
maintenance. Selecting the right crane for the job is key.
By Simon Walker, European Editor
The first Liebherr LTR 1220 telescopic crawler crane in Latin America, used by Joy Global for erecting mining shovels at Antamina.