Survival of the fittest

A remote town in Rajasthan on the border of Gujarat and close to the international border, Barmer today has emerged as a major source of energy to change the landscape of Rajasthan. Today Barmer is a bustling mining town with large fleets of mining equipment and Volvo tippers.

It all happened when a power company embarked on to set up a thermal power plant with the assured supply of lignite from Barmer. But supplying 10,000 tonne of lignite a day to meet the demands of thermal power plant was no ordinary challenge. The main challenge was extreme climatic and terrain conditions. There was yet another challenge. The trucks had to operate from a maximum depth of up to 120 m and climb all the way up to 60 m above the ground level to unload overburden. Added to this was underground water at a depth resulting in slushy conditions to make operations even more difficult. The result was an obvious choice of a fleet of Volvo tippers by the mining contractors. Volvo not only met the challenge but surpassed every expectation.

In the first year of operation alone, Volvo tippers clocked over 5,800 hours of tipper operation. The target every day was to remove 100,000 cu m of OB and transport it over 4 km, and by the end of the year Volvo tippers well surpassed the target.

Volvo tippers with the higher torque required in the depths of mines with slush and higher power for uphill climb, easy manoeuvrability on difficult mine roads and ease of operation for driver with extremely comfortable, air-conditioned and user-friendly cabin made it an ideal machine to do the job. Even after 8 hours of non-stop operation, there was much lesser stress on drivers, which helped them do the job effortlessly and achieve productivity. Drivers also felt safe in such strenuous operations. Volvo tippers proved their superior technology, built quality and efficiency in Barmer. The machines delivered the highest uptime in 24×7 operations with extremely high productivity. The well-equipped and managed workshop at site is the backbone that keeps these machines in operation providing excellent service support and preventive maintenance.