Highly abrasive conditions on mining sites can lead to rapid wear and tear of equipment. Worn loader buckets can be particularly costly, reducing loading capacity by up to 20% compared to new buckets.
Sandvik says its Shark ground engaging tools (GETs) help avoid this loss by enhancing bucket strength and longevity, which maintains high productivity.
The company says its GET range has evolved over two decades, delivering longer bucket life while cutting the cost of ownership by almost half over the total life of the bucket.
Sandvik GET business development manager south-east Asia and Africa Darren Scott highlights that Shark GETs enhance the structural strength of buckets to allow more tonnes to be shifted.
“A worn bucket is highly inefficient for the whole mining operation,” he argues. “When the leading edge wears, there is reduced penetration into the muck pile, as well has higher fuel usage as the machine has to work harder.”
Another result is more wear and tear on consumables like tyres, which must exert greater force and may even spin as the machine tries to penetrate the material it is loading. The real casualty, though, is productivity; the volume of material moved can drop by 20% per cycle when a bucket is severely worn, he adds.
Among the options in the Shark GET offering is the Blue Pointer 2 range which is designed to provide ease of mechanical attachment, while the Half Arrow range is said to offer the simplicity and strength of a weld-on solution. Under the Shark brand, Sandvik also markets weld-on and mechanical heel shrouds, as well as plate profile bars and cast profile bars.
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