Supply of idled draglines drying up…new orders on horizon

Several very large potential dragline contracts are close to being signed with major coal groups in South Africa and Australia, those in the industry have been telling IM. But these kinds of decisions take a lot of time. The hold ups are issues unrelated to the potential suppliers, which for the largest models only includes Caterpillar, P&H and OMZ/Uralmash. The delays are linked to issues like obtaining long-range access to power supply and site leasing resolution and not least the enormous initial cost. In the past, there has been something of a hot market for the global supply of idled, pre-owned draglines, where they are disassembled, relocated and reassembled: at huge cost but still well short of the capital expenses of a new machine. This supply route it seems, however, is virtually gone, with a few exceptions. This includes a rare 46 m class 8200 machine that is being relocated from Canada to Australia. (more…)