JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Various Anglo American Thermal Coal mining assets, including a 3 298 t dragline machine, which was valued at more than R1-billion when new, would be auctioned off on November 28.

Online auction house Clear Asset, which would handle the auction said a second-hand dragline such as this one was last sold in South Africa more 15 years ago, while the last time a new machine of this calibre was sold was in the mid-1990s.

The company added that market intelligence advised that there was currently up to a two-year waiting list for such machinery.

This highly productive dragline, a Bucyrus 1570W nicknamed ‘Bigger Digger’, from Kleinkopje mine, operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is capable of reaching depths of 51.81 m, has a boom length of 94.49 m, a dumping height of 43.53 m and a bucket size of 59.63 m. Its last shutdown was in November 2003 and it was continuously swinging to keep it in prime running order, Clear Asset cofounder and MD Ariella Kuper commented.

“It goes without saying that a machine of this size and power is rarely sold. Not surprisingly, the machine has already attracted strong interest from major mining houses locally and abroad [which would] prefer to relocate the dragline to their operations [rather] than purchase new [equipment],’’ she added.

Draglines were a vital excavating tool used in many surface mining operations worldwide, primarily for coal and iron-ore.

Such machines were in high demand owing to their reliability and extremely low waste removal cost. In a single cycle, these machines could move up to 450 t of material and the engine room alone was equal to the size of a small hall and came equipped with a kitchen. 

The releasing of the machine was well timed, as mines looked to restructure to achieve efficient operations and to free up working capital, Clear Asset said.

“Given the waiting list, cost and time to deployment, this auction presents an excellent opportunity to own a well-maintained and operating dragline,’’ Kuper commented.

Clear Asset stated that it was selected by Anglo American Thermal Coal to sell the dragline, owing to the auction house’s consistent online sales performance, global outreach and high level of industry knowledge.

During the upcoming November 28 auction, bidders could also expect to find "an entire clean up" of another six Anglo American Thermal Coal mines, commercial vehicles from AngloGold Ashanti and various underground and generic mining assets from Anglo American Platinum’s Union South, Rustenburg Shared Services and Mogalakwena operations.

Bidders would also find prime yellow metal articulated dump trucks from Diesel Power.

Additional assets to be auctioned included CAT 930 and CAT 994 front-end loaders, PH shovels, three Voest Alpine continuous miners, a CAT D10R, CAT 824-C and Komatsu D375-3 dozer, a Komatsu GD825 grader, a CAT 226 skid steer loader and various spares, as well as Toyota commercial vehicles.