On 28 November 2013, various Anglo Coal mining assets will be taken to auction including a 3,298 ton dragline machine which when new is valued at over R1billion.

The last time such a second hand dragline was sold in South Africa was over 15 years ago, and the last time a new machine of this calibre was sold was in the mid 1990’s. Market intel advises that there is currently up to a 2 year waiting list for such machinery.

Comments Ariella Kuper of Clear Asset, the company tasked with selling the asset via online auction, ‘’It goes without saying that a machine of this size and power is rarely sold. Not surprisingly, the machine located at Anglo Coal Kleinkopje Colliery has already attracted strong interest from major mining houses both locally and abroad who prefer to relocate the dragline to their operation than purchase new.’’

Draglines are a vital excavating tool used in many surface mining operations worldwide, primarily for coal and iron ore. Such machines are in high demand due to their reliability and extremely low waste removal cost. In a single cycle, these machines canmove up to 450 metric tonnes of material and the engine room alone is equal to the size of a small hall and comes equipped with a kitchen.  A large dragline system used in the open pit mining Open_pit_mining> industry costs anywhere from US$ en.wikipedia.org 50 –$300 million (ZAR R500 million to R3 billion).

Anglo Coal has decided to release this mammoth machine to the market and the timing bodes well as mines look to restructure for more efficient operations and to free up working capital. “Given the waiting list, cost and time to deployment, this auction presents an excellent opportunity to own a well maintained and operating dragline,’’ comments Kuper.

While leading online mining auctioneering company Clear Asset is only just over a year old, Anglo Thermal Goal has selected the company to sell the dragline due to their consistent online sales performance, global outreach and high level of industry knowledge. Selling out of the ordinary assets is nothing new to Clear Asset. In addition to their regular monthly auctions of mining equipment, the company has sold a marinevessel and a mine monorail in the last two months alone.

“This highly productive drag line, a Bucyrus 1570W aptly nicknamed “Bigger Digger” from Kleinkopje mine, operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is able to reach depths of 51.81m, has a boom length of 94.49m, a dumping height of 43.53 and a bucket size of 59.63m. Its last shutdown was Nov 2003 and is continuously swinging to keep it in prime running order.

During the upcoming 28 November 2013 auction, bidders can also expect to find an entire clean up of another 6 Anglo Thermal Coal mines, commercial vehicles from Anglo Gold Ashanti and various underground and generic mining assets from Anglo American Platinum’s Union South,Rustenburg Shared services and Mogolakwena. Bidders will also find prime yellow metal ADTs from Diesel Power ont eh auction.

Additional assets include a CAT 930 and a CAT 994 FEL’s, PH shovels, 3 Voest Alpine continuous miners, a CAT D10R, CAT 824-C and Komatsu D375-3 Dozers, a Komatsu GD825 Grader, a CAT 226 Skid Steer loader and various spares and Toyota commercial vehicles.

All bidders will need to register online to ensure access to bidding priveleges and can contact the office on +27 21 418 2630 or ariella@clearasset.co.za for full information or assistance.