MTU Africa gave mining trucks a new lease on life

MTU Africa has already retrofitted multiple mining trucks with MTU engines. It has now recently added another eight projects to the list. In particular, three Komatsu 960-2KT and five Hitachi EH3500-AC2 mining vehicles. These were first-time retrofits on both types of vehicle.

In December 2018 and March 2019, staff from South Africa and Zambia worked on First Quantum Minerals’ Sentinel Mine in Zambia. The aim was to repower the first of three 960-2KT Komatsu trucks. In the rebuild, an engine that had reached the end of its service life was replaced by a new 20-cylinder Series 4000 engine.

The truck fleet used at the Sentinel mine includes not only the Komatsu trucks but eight Liebherr T284 mining trucks, also powered by MTU’s 20-cylinder Series 4000 units, and two LeTourneau front-end loaders.

MTU Africa also developed a project with First Quantum in Zambia at its Kansanshi mine to replace the engine of a Hitachi EH3500-AC2 mining truck with a MTU 12-cylinder Series 4000. The Kansanshi mine is the largest copper mine in Africa. The project will repower five trucks in total over the next few months. The MTU 12-cylinder Series 4000 is already powering two of the Hitachi EH3500-AC3 trucks at the same mine.

HYSTER CHOSE MTU ENGINES

Over 800 Series 4000 retrofits worldwide

Since the launch of the Series 2000 and Series 4000, they retrofitted over 800 mine trucks as well as excavators, front-end loaders and surface blast hole drilling rigs worldwide. The retrofit projects rely on the strengths of this engine series. In particular in terms of fuel consumption, performance, reliability and uptime, long maintenance cycles and customer service quality.

One major driver of lower total cost of ownership is the remarkable fuel consumption. «As consumption accounts for around 80 to 85% of total cost of ownership, this is a key purchasing criterion for many customers,» emphasized Robert Wagner, Senior Manager Mining/Oil & Gas in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Russia.

mtu africa retrofit series 4000

Mine trucks usually need new engines after three to five years. Rolls-Royce Power Systems supplies what it calls Repower Kits for this purpose. These are pre-assembled drive modules consisting of an engine, a generator and a radiator all mounted on a base frame. They also come with an electronic engine management and monitoring system.

MTU RAIL ENGINES FOR CRRC TRAINS

Highlights

Cummins at Agritechnica: go with hydrogen!

In Hannover Cummins confirmed its commitment to the Destination Zero strategy, especially in the part dedicated to hydrogen, which is now a protagonist not only in agnostic engines, but also in production and supply phases. For agricultural OEMs, the direction is increasingly towards the “tailor-mad...

AS Labruna at METS 2023

AS Labruna is at home at the RAI of Amsterdam, the 2023 edition of METS is the 10th successive attendance

Related articles

Cummins opens new pilot installation facility in Marktheidenfeld, Germany

Cummins has announced the opening of a new Pilot Installation Centre at its Marktheidenfeld, Germany site. This centre will specialise in vehicle and machinery in-use emissions compliance testing and will support product development of Cummins’ renowned internal combustion engine technology, includi...
News

MAN Energy Solutions announces dual-fuel methanol 175D 

MAN Energy Solutions has announced that a dual-fuel version of its MAN 175D high-speed engine, capable of operating on methanol, will be available by the end of 2026. The new variant, designated MAN 175DF-M, will be available both as newbuild and retrofit variants.
News