Selecting the Ideal Truck For Your Mine

When choosing a truck for mining operations, the operators need to consider the geography location of the mine, the ore grade, type of material, terrain, rolling resistance, labor costs, mining machinery and many other important factors. All these influence the selection of the ideal truck for performing different mining operations. On the market, there is a wide range of the mining machinery with lifting capacity that varies from 200 to 400 tons. However, the best way to select the ideal mining truck would be to consider the financial terms. Here are the costs you certainly want to take into account when choosing a particular truck model.

Operating Costs

Like any other mining machinery, you need to select a truck wisely and not spend money on a vehicle that will turn out to be a wrong investment. You should estimate the labor costs, or ask a professional to do it for you, such as the preventative maintenance, tire costs, cost per ton figures and all other similar costs. These costs can show which truck models might be ideal for your mine.

Capital Cost

The capital costs are as important as the operating expenses. When it comes to capital cost, you should compare few similar models in order to see some price differences. People involved in the mining industry have reported that trucks in the same class have +/- 10 percent difference in pricing, so with a detailed comparison you may save a lot of money. Also, you need to be aware of dealers that adjust the price of the mining machinery depending on the location.

Cost Per Hour

When asking a dealer for information about particular mining machinery, you should ask for the life cycle costs, or shortly known as LCC. Many dealers guarantee and promise a 10 percent spare on consignment for you on the mine, but you still might lose downtime in case of some early damages. The life cycle costs should be more than 85,000 hours, usually maximum of 120,000 hours. So, the LCC will easy transmit into cost per hour.

Cost Per Ton

At the end, estimate the cost per ton, include this number in the total costs and see if the price fits your budget. In fact, you need to transmit the cost per hour into cost per ton, in order to find out which truck is ideal for your mine. You can get speed chart from every manufacturer of a mining machinery. Keep in mind that trucks that operate in one area only are faster than the trucks that operate in few hauls.