Keech Mining Supplies has expanded its business offering to meet the needs of mines Australia wide. Until now, mining operators could waste up to four days and thousands of dollars customising their buckets on-site to meet individual needs. That’s all changed with Keech now providing custom made buckets.

“While a lot of companies claim to supply custom made buckets, in reality these buckets are not manufactured from the outset to meet the specific needs of individual mines,” said Brad Clarke, Business Manager, Keech Mining Supplies. “However, in developing our business model, we’ve met with a number of clients across the country and one of the common complaints is the time and cost required to customise buckets to protect high wearing areas and increase the life of the bucket.

“We’re currently undertaking a trial with Cadia East Gold Mine in Orange, New South Wales to help them overcome the issue of high wear on the bucket corners. The mine was only getting 700 hours out of its this link GET and wanted to increase this to 1,000 hours.

“We spoke to our research and development team in Bendigo and within three weeks they’d developed a solution, modifying the design by casting our hard wearing Keech Gold on the corners to prolong bucket life. Keech Gold is incredibly abrasion resistant and, although we’re only 700 hours into the trial, it is proving a success with only minimal wear on the bucket edge.”

Under the business model, Keech can supply a customised bucket directly to the OEM or to individual mining operators.

Key benefits include:

• The cost of a Keech customised buckets is comparable to standard OEM bucket
• The lead time from development to delivery is similar to the lead time incurred when ordering a new bucket
• Reduced downtime by improving wear and bucket lifespan