In 2012 our Kumba Iron Ore business handed over a giant haul truck from Sishen mine in the Northern Cape to the City of Johannesburg.
Permanently parked at the intersection of Hall, Usher, and Ntemi Piliso streets in the city centre, the truck forms part of the South Western Improvement District’s (SWID) growing Mining Street Museum. It serves both as public sculpture and as a reminder of the city’s mining heritage.
This trusty workhorse — a Unit Rig Mark 36 170 tonne payload haul truck — was retired from the iron ore harvesting fields of Sishen mine after more than 20 years of faithful service. It was relocated to Johannesburg at the request of the SWID. The district is home to many mining houses, including that of Kumba’s parent company Anglo American, the National Union of Mine Workers and the Chamber of Mines.
Against the backdrop of the inner city, the towering yellow truck stands out and attracts a lot of attention from passersby. Although it is located in an area which is currently run down, it has been placed next to the Westgate transport hub and across the road from a new multi-billion rand development, of which the building of it will commence in February of this year.
Anglo American proud to be part of the mining history of Johannesburg, said former Chief Executive of Kumba Iron Ore Chris Griffith at the ribbon cutting ceremony. “We share and support the city’s vision on urban renewal and believe that these permanent exhibitions are essential to remind us of our mining roots.”
“We are excited about this initiative and Sishen mine is honoured to showcase this worthy representative of our mine in Gauteng,” Tanya Aucamp, Communication Manager: Sishen mine said.
At the time the truck was deployed, in 1989 along with 31 other stable mates of the same kind, it was considered state-of-the-art. Weighing in at a massive 125 tonnes, it was the biggest truck of its kind to get down and dirty at Sishen mine. The truck boasted a fuel consumption of 85 litres per hour and an estimated life of 10 years. But this robust dynamo, with a little help from a re-build, actually gave the mine two decades of steadfast service.
The truck was diesel powered for normal use, but was equipped with pantographs which allowed it to harness electrical power from its electrical motors to boost uphill travel when fully laden. The ability to switch from diesel power to electrical power greatly reduced the fuel consumption and also increased its top speed from 10 km/hr to 18 km/hr on the steep uphill sections of the pit.
Getting the haul truck from Sishen mine to Johannesburg was an exercise of epic proportions. Not only does it weigh 125 tonnes, it had to be moved hundreds of kilometres and due to its size, it is not allowed on the road. “Moving the truck from Sishen had not been an easy task,’ said Griffith. It had taken six days, and the truck had to be dismantled into two parts; first the wheels, then the skip on top and then it had to be placed on large flatbed trucks that had to manoeuvre through streets of Johannesburg. Cranes then lifted the two parts into place, allowing the giant to be reassembled at its new home in distant Gauteng.
Retirement inevitably comes to all of us and eventually the time came to take this haul truck out of commission to make way for bigger, more advanced models with capacities of as much as 350 tonnes. Today Sishen Mine operates a fleet of 78 of these mechanical giants to haul ore and clear waste round the clock.