Company Announcement - May 2015, saw delivery of the first locally manufactured GRAVICO heavy duty excavator bucket for the world’s leading commercial surface mining excavator, the PC8000, to a prominent mining group in the Middelburg Mpumalanga area.  Successful collaboration between medium- to heavy-duty manufacturing, fabrication and refurbishment specialist DCD Venco and Netherlands-based surface mining aftermarket attachment specialist Southwest Group with its South African Gravico brand, realised the local development and manufacture of a specialised, high quality 42 m3 face shovel bucket, at DCD Venco’s heavy engineering facility in Newcastle, Kwazulu Natal.

Gravico’s proven expertise and experience as a one stop shop for engineering design, development, manufacture and delivery of a wide range of surface mining aftermarket attachments across the globe, is evident in the final product

The massive hydraulic PC8000 has two 2010 hp diesel engines (or if you prefer, two 1450 kW electric motors) to provide power.  The machine’s powerful digging forces demands a bucket able to support a Break-out force of 2320 kN.

In its totality the bucket was designed and tested to function as an integral part of the PC8000 machine and will deliver best performance in the mine’s application. Manufacturer DCD Venco was established in 1973, as a socially and environmentally responsible engineering division of DCD, operating in Africa to provide sustainable products for the construction, mining and energy sectors through the creation of partnerships with customers and end users. 

DCD Venco general manager Willem Mare points out that the company has been a contract manufacturer for major mining OEM’s for the past 15 years. “We pride ourselves on providing end-to-end solutions for heavy fabrications, offering shorter production manufacturing cycles and delivering uncompromisingly on quality in every step of the manufacturing process. Intellectual property in the manufacturing sector can take many years to develop and as Gravico’s official manufacturing partner the synergy and collaboration between Southwest Group and DCD Venco, has placed Gravico at the pioneering forefront of innovation in this market”.

Gravico offers an extensive range of buckets for different machine types ranging from 7 to 54m2 capacity, as well as wheel loader buckets and drag line buckets that range from 32m2 to 105m2 capacity. “Our buckets are designed to compliment and enhance machine performance and have a reputation for strength, durability and reliability, which stems from the quality of our workmanship, dedication in manufacture and the pride we take in each and every product.”