ADTs to play crucial role in construction of 900 ha tailings facility

A fleet of South African heavy equipment manufacturer Bell Equipment’s articulated dump trucks (ADTs) will play a crucial role in the construction of a large 900 ha tailings storage facility for a gold mining company near Fochville, along Gauteng’s western border with the North West province.

This project, led by construction engineering company Stefanutti Stocks, will require moving 10-million m3 of earth, which includes 6.5-million m3 of fill material, 1.5-million m3 of cut material and 2-million m3 of topsoil to be preserved for later use.

To meet these demands, Stefanutti Stocks group plant director Nigel Ramiah notes that Bell Equipment’s ADTs will significantly boost the hauling capacity alongside its existing fleet, ensuring efficient transport of materials across the site.

To achieve this, Stefanutti Stocks will need at least 65 ADTs to supplement its own smaller fleet.

The assembly of the new fleet of B30E ADTs started in late 2023, although initially it was meant for a project at a platinum mine in Limpopo.

Starting with just six Bell B30E ADTs, the fleet has since expanded to 24, with eight additional machines being delivered in July and another ten in August.

“We chose the Bell B30E ADT as it’s a proven and reliable ADT designed and built for South African conditions. “Bell Equipment’s large footprint ensures we can rely on the company’s technical back-up wherever we work across Southern Africa,” Ramiah says, adding that the new fleet of ADTs will be used for future construction projects beyond the three-year contract period of the current tailings dam project.

“We believe in standardising on one model, in this case the Bell B30E ADT, which makes the maintenance of such a fleet that much simpler in terms of ordering parts and having our own maintenance staff being familiar with the brand and model,” he adds.

To date, the performance of the Bell B30E ADTs has satisfied Stefanutti Stocks’ requirements, with the company noting that the even torque distribution across the three axles provides enhanced power under heavy loads. This balanced power distribution also enhances tyre longevity, as it reduces or eliminates scuffing on the centre axle’s tyres.

“We’re also confident that, when the spring and summer rains arrive, our Bell ADTs will perform well in the wet thanks to their all-wheel drive traction,” enthuses Ramiah.

Heavy-Duty Application

Current operations see the project teams working six days a week, while haul distances for the Bell B30E ADTs vary between 700 m and 3 km, depending on what material is being moved.

The Bell ADTs are loaded by 36 t excavators and each ADT will carry between five and six loads every hour, which translates into 1 000 m3 or 1 600 t a shift. The soil conditions are generally soft with some ferrocrete, but no blasting is required for the excavations.

The tailings storage facility has been designed with earthen walls which will be 100 m wide at the base with an initial height of 10 m. As deposits continue over time, the walls are raised by mining contractors responsible for the tailings’ management.

The Bell B30E ADTs have been bought with extended warranties covering the wet drivetrain and hydraulics to 6 000 hours or 36 months, which also includes a Bell Care Package for the same period. During the warranty period, all servicing and repairs are done by personnel from Bell Equipment’s largest branch, in Jet Park, in Boksburg.

“We’re running on wet rates meaning we supply the diesel ourselves, so the Bell B30E ADTs’ fuel consumption is important to us,” notes Ramiah, adding that the average fuel consumption the company is able to achieve from Bell Equipment’s Fleetm@tic telematics shows 12.9 ∙/h, coupled to general mechanical availabilities of 91% across the fleet.

Meanwhile, Stefanutti Stocks, aware of its social responsibilities, adheres to local job creation by sourcing the bulk of its ADT drivers and machine operators from communities close to the project site. Training to upskill the community – for future opportunities once the project ends – has also been provided.

Products from Bell Equipment enjoy a major presence on the site with a range of ADT models spanning 18 t, 25 t and 30 t, in addition to Bell B2306D and B2806D articulated haulers and an assortment of Bell water tankers.