Penrice’s Angaston quarry, which was set up in 1950, not only supplies the company’s soda ash manufacturing plant in Adelaide, but also supplies lime products for civil construction applications such as road construction and cement manufacturing, and high-grade chemical sand for the glass-manufacturing industry.According to mine production manager Chris Andrews, the quarry has used Komatsu equipment for the past 10 years, and the performance and reliability of the product was a key factor in the decision to go for an all-Komatsu fleet under its power-by-the-hour contract.“Komatsu came up with the best package in terms of price, the levels of service it could offer and the whole-of-life costs of the equipment,” he said. “This power-by-the-hour arrangement, through Komatsu Australia Corporate Finance, gives us terms from 12,000 hours up to 18,000 hours. It’s based on equipment hours, and we pay for what we use during that period. “This arrangement has enabled us to upgrade our fleet efficiently, plus it allows us to gauge very accurately what our equipment running costs will be over a sustained period.”Komatsu equipment in operation at Penrice includes two PC1250-7 excavators, two PC450LC-8 excavators, two WA900-3 loaders, four WA700-3 loaders, three WA600-3 loaders, six WA480-6 loaders, seven HD785-5 dump trucks, three HD465-5 dump trucks with 60-tonne bodies, two HD325-7 water trucks, a D155A-5 dozer, a GD655A-3 grader, an SK714-5 skid steer, and an HM400-2 and HM300-2 articulated dump truck.Its most recent piece of equipment is one of the PC450LC-8 excavators to feed one of its crushing plants.
