Muswellbrook-based Mining & Earthmoving Services (MES), part of the diversified RTC Group of companies, recently commissioned PC6 and PC21 track-mounted crushing and screening units and a HCS5515 mobile double-deck screening unit. It will soon add the Powercrusher HCS grizzly, which will work at the same location.
Atlas Copco Mining and Rock Excavation Australia Powercrusher product manager Andy Graham said the machines were working well in a Boral material recycling yard at Kooragang Island, near Newcastle, where MES had a contract to produce gabion construction materials and other recycled stone products.
?The [PC6] jaw crusher and a screening unit are used in the production of the gabion [drainage wall] material,? Graham said.
?When they go onto other products they add the [PC21] cone crusher into a closed circuit so they can reprocess quite a lot of their rock to get fines and small products.
?It?s an extremely versatile set-up in terms of the throughput range and the spread of different products they are able to produce.?
Atlas Copco acquired Austrian-based mobile crushing equipment manufacturer Hartl Anlagenbau in 2010 to increase its exposure to the global materials recycling sector. The Powercrusher range continues to be produced at the former Hartl factory in St Valentin, Austria.
In Australia, a nominal distributor backing of the Powercrusher product range has been replaced by the extensive national distribution and after-market support network of Atlas Copco.
?There are probably about 20 machines in Australia all up,? Graham said.
?They are being marketed a little bit differently now and we are seeing strong interest in the products in what is a very competitive segment of the overall construction equipment market.
?We have two machines over in the west and a machine down in Victoria, which was sold to a contractor down there.
?Now we have these four machines here in Newcastle. So we?re starting to make our own mark a little bit with the Powercrusher brand.
?We have taken another order for a machine up in Queensland and basically what sold it was the Atlas Copco name and reputation, which is a good sign.?
MES provides a range of maintenance, environmental, engineering, employment, earthmoving and construction services to the resources and building industries in New South Wales. The Hunter Valley-based RTC is a multi-award winning group providing construction and building maintenance services to a wide range of industries.
Graham said the Powercrusher equipment range, which went up to a 350 tonnes per hour throughput rating, was ideally suited to smaller scale screening, crushing and material movement projects.
?There are mines over in Europe that use Powercrusher machines because traditionally on that side of the world, and over in Africa as well, there are smaller scale operations. Here, the mining is generally done on a huge scale, so we?re aiming at the construction, contractor and quarry sectors.
?The construction industry is fairly quiet at the moment. But on average, you would say that, in terms of mobile crushing and screening equipment, there is probably the potential for about 120 to 150 units per year to go into the market. There are a number of competitors out there making these types of machines and, I have to tell you, they sell them at some very competitive prices.?
Graham said an attraction of the Powercrusher jaw crusher was the unique Quattro movement, made possible by an up-thrust toggle plate position that allows the jaw to move in a figure-eight motion, increasing feed capacity and producing a ?post-crush? at the crusher outlet.
The units are easy to transport, set up and maintain, featuring hydraulically-collapsible hopper side walls made for optimised transport dimensions.
?You can basically drive these machines onto a job site, back them off the truck, park them up and then just hit a button,? Graham said. ?You are crushing rock before you know it.?
Source: Atlas Copco Powercrusher