Diversified Mining Services cracks the Queensland market

Two of the vehicles have been sold to BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) and will be used at the Crinum underground mine, 50km north-east of Emerald after the Queensland Department of Mines and Energy officially approved them in August.
Although the vehicles have been in use in New South Wales for the past 12 months, DMS says that the move into Queensland mines paves the way for expansion into other Australian and New Zealand mines.
The Coaltram CT10 is manufactured near Newcastle by DMS Underground (previously the Anderson group of companies) and recently Donaldson Coal, BHP Illawarra Coal and Centennial have all made purchases.
The feedback from customers has been positive, according to DMS Underground Coaltram general manager Craig Anderson.
He said Coaltram operators, maintenance personnel and mine management have all been impressed at operations where the machine has been used.
That success has come after a partnership with Atlas Copco and more than five years and $25 million of research and development.
“The partnership between DMS and Atlas Copco is an enormous asset to this business that has taken many years of painstaking work to develop,” DMS managing director Terry Young said.
He also said the success was based on a commitment to listening to customer needs and innovative design and manufacturing processes.
Mr Anderson attributed the success to the fact that other articulated LHD vehicles used in underground coal mines have had minimal changes or improvements over the last 10-15 years.
The Coaltram is also available in a CT13 model and both feature the Caterpillar C7 turbo diesel engine.
Industry input has led to the inclusion of an extensive list of functions, such as load haul dump, forklift applications, supplies and materials handling, cable and belt systems handling, lifting, towing and general purpose trailers.
Orders are currently in a backlog, however this is expected to ease as the fleet expands in 2011.
DMS said that it is also worth noting that it has a hire fleet of Coaltram vehicles available in Australia and New Zealand.
The product is also offered on a trial before purchase basis and this has proved extremely successful for the group.
The Coaltram CT10 and CT13 are distributed in Australia by DMS Underground and Atlas Copco distributes globally to China, India, Russia, the USA and South Africa.
Contact: info@dmsgroup.com.au