September 2014 | CranesBlog

Zoomlion installs wind turbines in Iran

An 800t Zoomlion QUY800 crawler crane has been used to install turbines on a wind farm in Takistan, Iran.

The crawler, with a 108m jib and 7m extension, is being used on the Kahak Wind Farm, which is being built to ease the pressure on the power supply in Tehran.

The crane is installing wind turbine towers, rotors, blades and housings. The top section of the towers weigh more than 30t, with the turbines almost 100m high and weighing 350t.

Kahak Wind Farm is situated on a plateau to benefit from the windy conditions, but this also makes installation more complex, as the top housing has to be installed within a certain period of time to prevent the wind causing the tower to tilt and bend.

The high altitude, strong winds and heavy lifting mass means the average installation time for each turbine has been over a month. So far 10 turbines have been successfully installed.

Liebherr crawler reaches new heights

A Liebherr LTR 1220 telescopic crawler crane is operating at an altitude of almost 5,000m in the Peruvian Andes.

The 220t LTR 1220, which Liebherr claims is the first crane of this type in Latin America, has been working at the Antamina copper-zinc mine, Mining equipment specialist Joy Global Peru SAC has the crane on long term hire from crane owner Gruas Alquileres SA.

The unit has been working in difficult conditions, including extreme temperature fluctuations. Its main work is unloading the components of two electrical mining excavators and assembling them, The mine is one of the ten largest in the world, with 24/7 operations and around 430,000 tonnes of material extracted every day.

CRC in underwater crane rescue

A Manitowoc crane that slipped off a bank into 70ft of water has been successfully rescued by Florida-based Crane Rental Corporation (CRC) in a tandem lift.

CRC used a Manitowoc 2250 crawler crane with MAX-ER attachment (500t capacity) and a 600t Terex AC 500-2 hydraulic truck crane to lift the submerged Manitowoc 4600 dragline. The total weight lifted was 484,000 pounds.

CRC had to supply pre-lift plans and submit them to the Mining Safety and Health Administration for approval. It also supplied a lift director, skilled riggers and certified crane operators for the job.

The company has performed nearly a dozen recoveries after similar accidents and has engineered specialised rigging for such projects.

Engineers assessed the machine and had to predict the components’ stored energy before divers cut the boom, mast and heavy-duty wire rope. Underwater cameras and communications were essential as the divers’ exposure had to be limited at the depth.

New Grove fleet helps Peru copper mine expand

A new fleet of Grove rough-terrain cranes is helping one of Peru’s largest copper mines to triple its production output.

The Gove RT9130Es, RT880Es and RT765E-2s were assembled at Manitowoc’s factory in Passo Fundo, Brazil and supplied to Graña y Montero Holdings’ (GyM) copper and molybdenum mi ning complex in southern Peru.

The units are assisting the company with the US$4.6bn mine expansion project, which will enable GyM to expand output from 120,000t to 360,000 per day, providing additional annual production of 272,000t of copper and 7,700t of molybdenum by 2016.

GyM said it chose Grove rough-terrain cranes because their standard features were ideal for mining site use.

Gerardo Castillo, Manitowoc’s regional business manager for Peru and Argentina, said: “As long as commodities prices continue to be competitive and global demand remains stable, conditions will stay favourable in our region, which will only help grow crane sales.”