Rexx climbs to great heights at Granny Smith

Rexx, the game changing new mine haul truck designed and built by Bis, a leading service provider to the resources sector, has been drafted in for a challenging assignment at the Granny Smith gold mine in Western Australia.

The Gold Fields mine near Laverton identified the dual powered 20-wheel dump truck as being suitable for the task of helping shift thousands of tonnes of material out of the Wallaby Pit to a stockpile 15 km away.

Bis CEO Brad Rogers said the campaign not only capitalised on Rexx’s strengths including its versatility and range but also provided a challenging environment to further test the truck in different conditions.

“Rexx is performing extremely well at the mine, proving its ability to come out of the Wallaby pit with a 160 tonne payload.

“As part of the testing during the trial, Rexx has also completed numerous hill starts fully loaded, on the incline.”

Mr Rogers said the work at Granny Smith was providing a perfect demonstration of the range capability of the new Bis workhorse, with Rexx required to complete round trips of 30 kilometres from the pit to the stockpile location.

He added that Rexx has more than four times the distance capability of competing dump trucks and an on-demand power system that lowers fuel consumption. The vehicle also has the capacity to carry enough fuel for at least two 12hour shifts, eliminating downtime needed for refuelling.

Granny Smith General Manager Andrew Bywater said: “We are embracing innovation and technology across our mining operations and this is a great example of how we can work with our business partners to create advances in the industry. We see this as a real opportunity to explore potential improvements in trucking efficiency, and are encouraged by what we have seen to date.”

The ‘grunt work’ at Granny Smith follows extensive testing at Glencore’s Murrin Murrin mine where Rexx proved its ability to deliver up to a 30 per cent reduction in operating costs, compared with conventional dump trucks.

The truck has also operated fully loaded in pits below the water table and handled the sticky and boggy conditions with ease.

Mr Rogers said the versatility of Rexx, including interchangeable bins, had sparked interest not only in the resources industry – internationally and in Australia – but with potential customers across a range of sectors including construction and civil.

“Rexx is the latest example of how Bis finds the best and inventive ways to haul, transport, handle, process and deliver our customers’ critical commodities,” he said.

Rexx has already earned Bis this year’s Future of Mining Innovation Award, which recognises collaborative innovation that results in standout commercial outcomes. Bis has also been shortlisted for the Australian Financial Review Most Innovative Company awards, which is set to be announced in August 2019.