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Mobile manufacturing unit arrives in a splash of colour

Orica’s Bulkmaster 7 – which was launched 12 months ago – recently arrived in the New South Wales coal region with a splash of colour.

A new Mobile Manufacturing Unit (MMU), donning the red and yellow livery of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service to raise funds and awareness, was unveiled at the service’s Broadmeadow base and is now operating on-site at Yancoal’s Moolarben coal operations. The vehicle’s traditional colours are blue and white.

Orica has been a supporter of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service since 2015, contributing more than $500,000 to the service over that time.

“The Westpac helicopter service is a vital lifeline for the community,” Orica’s Australia-Pacific vice-president Todd Peate said. “We’re so proud of our partnership with the service that we’ve painted one of our Bulkmaster 7 trucks in their colours, to lend support and spread awareness.”

Peate said Orica had operations at sites throughout the Hunter Valley and northern New South Wales, from Newcastle to Gunnedah, and it was “reassuring to know that this life-saving service is there for us and the community”.

He added the red and yellow 47-tonne Bulkmaster 7 was an expansion of a partnership underpinned by the generous contributions of Orica employees over many years, through Orica’s “Dare to Share” payroll deduction program. Orica matches its employees’ donations on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

Richard Jones, CEO of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service, said support from companies such as Orica was critical to the service’s operations.

Each year the service undertakes more than 1200 missions across the Hunter, Central Coast, Mid North Coast, New England and north-west regions of NSW.

“No one ever pays to be assisted by the service, but its value is priceless,” Jones said. “We truly appreciate the long-term and valued support from Orica. This is an incredibly creative promotional push for our service. We are fortunate to have many people support us in so many diverse ways. We know the great history of Orica’s colours and we’re humbled and privileged that Orica has chosen to support our service this way.”

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Explosive Delivery Service

Designed for use in the open-cut mining sector, the Bulkmaster 7 is part of Orica’s delivery system technology, offering an increased payload, loadout rates and bin flexibility for more productivity and safety on bench.

The first Bulkmaster 7 unit began operation in February 2018 at the Fortescue Metals Group’s Solomon operations, in the resource-rich Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Orica has cited significant performance improvements through a series of technical innovations in the new-generation delivery system, including:

• A proprietary bin shape to optimise ammonium nitrate flowability, minimise weight, evenly distribute stresses and lower the centre of gravity. The Bulkmaster 7 is designed to significantly improve reliability, stability and safety, and increase total bulk explosives product holding capacity to up to 21 tonnes of Fortan and 22.5 tonnes of Fortis.
• Specially designed augers and significantly increased power capacity to improve delivery rates and allow for new material metering methods. It allows for accurate Fortan and Fortis delivery rates of 1100kg/min and 550kg/min respectively.
• State-of-the-art integrated hydraulic, sensor and control system technology that optimises usability and formulation quality at high speeds.

The Bulkmaster 7 fully integrates with LOADPlus, a BlastIQ-enabled smart control system technology, to deliver products transparently and accurately in accordance with site requirements. BlastIQ delivers a range of technology solutions to improve productivity, save time and reduce the overall cost of drill and blast operations.

As the extractive industry moves ever closer to automating the entire mining value chain, the release of the Bulkmaster 7 is considered a milestone in Orica’s overall technology vision. This vision includes WebGen, the world’s first truly wireless initiating system, the BlastIQ system and an advancement of Orica’s bulk product range and delivery methods to revolutionise drill and blast operations.

The Bulkmaster 7 is being rolled out in Australia, providing a competitive advantage to operators adopting the new technology.

Source: Orica Australia

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