After an interesting trip from Rio De Janeiro to Mariana on Thursday we had a long site visit to the area where we hope to get our first contract in Brazil. Vale has three operating mines in the Mariana’s Complex, Alegria, Fazendao and Fabrica Nova. Between these mines they move around 135 million tonnes of waste and ore per annum. They can sell all the iron they mine and really want to shift more. Of course we can and would like to help.
The equipment is on the whole, relatively small with Cat 994 loaders and Cat785 trucks being the largest at present. Like most mines we will focus on helping them do the simple things well. While the operation is good there is plenty of potential. At the end of the day they are mines and they have a great chance of improving output by investing in making their current resources more efficient than spending excessive money on technological solutions.
There is a discussion going on about the value in the flexibility which the smaller equipment provides vs the economies of scale of larger equipment. Despite what some Australian and other mines might think the economies of scale don’t always add up. Big trucks for example don’t move as much per tonne of nominal capacity compared with smaller trucks and also don’t provide the unit savings which some mines expect.
By agreement with Vale I can’t post any of the mine photos I took but they are like most surface mines – big holes in the ground. Instead I have included a photo of the church next to our accommodation in Ouro Preto (black gold). It was built in about 1760. Ouro Preto is World Heritage listed with the most amazing architecture particularly of the churches. The inside of the Ouro Preto churches has been described as the most complete demonstration of baroque art work in one place anywhere in the world. It is simply amazing and completely priceless both in price and cultural significance.
The equipment is on the whole, relatively small with Cat 994 loaders and Cat785 trucks being the largest at present. Like most mines we will focus on helping them do the simple things well. While the operation is good there is plenty of potential. At the end of the day they are mines and they have a great chance of improving output by investing in making their current resources more efficient than spending excessive money on technological solutions.
There is a discussion going on about the value in the flexibility which the smaller equipment provides vs the economies of scale of larger equipment. Despite what some Australian and other mines might think the economies of scale don’t always add up. Big trucks for example don’t move as much per tonne of nominal capacity compared with smaller trucks and also don’t provide the unit savings which some mines expect.
By agreement with Vale I can’t post any of the mine photos I took but they are like most surface mines – big holes in the ground. Instead I have included a photo of the church next to our accommodation in Ouro Preto (black gold). It was built in about 1760. Ouro Preto is World Heritage listed with the most amazing architecture particularly of the churches. The inside of the Ouro Preto churches has been described as the most complete demonstration of baroque art work in one place anywhere in the world. It is simply amazing and completely priceless both in price and cultural significance.
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