Swedish multinational engineering group Sandvik has announced that it has received a significant new order from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) miner Kamoa Copper. Kamoa is a joint venture between Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines and China’s Zijin Mining. The order is for 19 Toro-brand trucks and loaders, for the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex. Kamoa has successfully operated Sandvik loaders and trucks since 2019 and the Kamoa-Kakula mine already has one of the largest underground fleets of Sandvik equipment in the world. Indeed, Sandvik established itself in the DRC to support Kamoa-Kakula.

“Our decision to reinvest in Sandvik equipment is based on years of proven operational performance at Kamoa-Kakula,” explained Kamoa Copper MD Annebel Oosthuizen. “The trucks and loaders have consistently delivered the availability, productivity and reliability we need to support one of the world’s leading underground copper operations. Sandvik equipment gives us confidence that we can maintain safer, efficient and predictable production while supporting our long-term plans.”

The mine is a high-grade and long-life underground operation. It expects to mine between 290 000 t and 310 000 t of copper this year. It is targeting an annual production figure of 500 000 t from 2028.

Its latest order is for 12 Toro TH663i trucks and seven Toro LH621i loaders, with the first four trucks expected to be delivered during the last quarter of this year, with the remaining eight trucks and five of the loaders following in the first quarter of next year, and the final two loaders set to be delivered in the third quarter of next year. Two of the loaders will be fitted with Sandvik’s AutoMine system, allowing them to be remotely or autonomously operated. (Kamoa-Kakula already operates one AutoMine Lite system and has separately ordered another three of them.)

With this latest order, the size of Kamoa-Kakula’s fleet of Sandvik underground loaders, trucks and drills will exceed 100 units. Sandvik keeps a dedicated Expert-on-Site technical support team on the mine. It also maintains a vendor-managed inventory facility there, to ensure the maximum availability and productivity of the equipment.