New remote controlled digging & cleaning unit

The DUGLESS 900 has just won two major industry awards and was a finalist for a third.
Talk to anyone who runs conveyors and you’ll quickly learn that cleaning up spillage is a major, costly, perennial nuisance. Overspill can cause big problems if it’s not cleaned up regularly. Conveyor frames are often awkward to work around with low ground clearance preventing access underneath by traditional utility skid steer loaders and similar equipment. Cleaning out fugitive material with water hoses is no longer acceptable. Personnel using shovels can cause other problems such as high cost and safety – the conveyor usually has to be shut down – which means other operations may also be affected.
Graham Townsend, who owns Minprovise, an engineering business in Western Australia specialising in mine site services, thought there had to be a better way.
His objective was to prevent unplanned and costly shutdowns caused by problems resulting from excessive build-up of fugitive material under conveyors, particularly at transfer points.
He developed and built the DUGLESS 900, and the machine has now received global accolades including the 2009 Bulk Materials Handling Award from London’s Mining Magazine.
It also won Best Practice in OH&S Category in the Fourth Australian Bulk Handling Awards, and was a Finalist in the Innovative Mining Solutions Category of the 6th annual Mining Prospect Awards.
At only 560mm high, the DUGLESS 900 is a rugged, unmanned, remote-controlled digging and cleaning unit capable of safely maneuvering under low conveyor sections and other inaccessible places to remove spillage and blockages without any risk to workers or equipment. It effectively reduces downtime and prevents drive machinery breakdowns.
One interesting case study demonstrating the efficiency of the machine was undertaken recently at an iron ore site in the rugged Pilbara region of Western Australia. Just one man operating the remote control unit was able to reclaim 300 tonnes of iron ore spillage from under the conveying system at the stockpile in only 12 hours.
This equates to only a tiny five-day payback period in industry productivity terms.
When this kind of efficiency is added to the safety enhancement benefits for operators and any other personnel near the work site, you begin to understand the immense potential for the DUGLESS 900.
Lost Time injuries (LTI's), which currently cost Australia’s mining industry $196,000 on average per incident, are significantly reduced with this machine. Unmanned and remote-controlled, it is capable of performing dangerous and arduous manual jobs - safely removing conveyor spillage and cleaning out blockages at no risk to workers and with no production downtime.
Several options are available:
• A personal proximity transmitter, when worn by the operator, improves safety by preventing the machine from approaching.
• Proximity protection cones can be used to demarcate an area in which the machine can operate. It will shut off automatically upon leaving this area.
• Specially built trailers are available to transport the Dugless 900 safely and effectively and can be towed by any standard 4WD, and can be loaded/unloaded by one man.

For more information contact Graham Townsend (inventor): 0400 058 515