Rolls-Royce has concluded a 13-year service contract with Canadian mine operator Barrick Gold Corporation. The agreement covers regular maintenance of the 30 MTU Series 4000 engines in operation in Hitachi dump trucks at the Lumwana copper mine in Zambia. To ensure fast, trouble-free service, more than 10 MTU employees will be stationed directly on-site at the mine.
Dan Gray, Maintenance Manager for Barrick Gold Corporation at Lumwana, says, “Everyday mining operations are a hard business - for us and for the engines. That means we must be able to count on things running without a hitch. To make sure that happens, we opted for the reliability of the service provided by MTU.” Bernd Krüper, Vice President Industrial Business at MTU, adds, “We are extremely pleased that Barrick Gold Corporation has demonstrated long-term confidence in us in many parts of the world and we look forward to being able to further develop our partnership also in Zambia. Our 16-cylinder Series 4000 engines will be serviced after every 500 hours of operation and more than 10 of our service technicians will be stationed on-site at the mine to ensure that happens as smoothly and quickly as possible.”
The Lumwana copper mine is located in Zambia, one of the world’s most copper-rich regions. Sulphides extracted at the site are processed in a conventional flotation plant to produce copper concentrate for smelting. In 2016 alone, the Lumwana mine produced 271 million pounds of copper. Barrick Gold Corporation expects production to reach between 250 and 275 million pounds in 2017.
MTU also provides the drive power and service facilities needed at a number of other mines in Zambia.
