“The Bluefield Coal Show is held every two years and is the top regional show for underground mining in the country,” said Tim Easter, YTC director, OTR sales. “It’s the perfect locale to highlight our new mining tyres to the coal industry.”
Kirkby Tyres has been at the forefront of tyre and wheel wholesaling and distribution for over 60 years and has established itself as one of the largest tyre and wheel ‘full line wholesalers and distributors’ in Europe. With a head office and warehouse on a six acre site next to John Lennon airport in Liverpool and offices in Scotland, Ireland and China the company says it can supply a tyre or wheel for any application. This of course, includes OTR tyres, and Kirkby Tyres says it has a comprehensive range of tyres and wheels for this sector, including from leading manufacturers such as Alliance, BKT, Double Coin and Belshina.
Infinity Tyres is now recognised around the world for its growing OTR tyre range. Following extensive trials in demanding conditions across Australia, Africa and Asia, Infinity’s speciality heavy-duty mining tyres are now first choice fitments across a range of fleets operating in the most extreme environments.
Eldan Recycling recently delivered a complete tyre recycling plant in Papua New Guinea. According to the company this is designed to process all kinds of tyres including truck tyres and huge mining tyres that can be over four metres and a weigh several tons each. The system will produce 0-4 mm rubber granulate (99.9 per cent free of textile and steel) at approximately four tons per production hour.
According to US media reports, Bridgestone Americas intends to increase production of giant mining tyres. Bloomington, Illinois-based newspaper the Pantagraph writes that the Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations factory in the jauntily-named town of Normal will benefit from two expansion projects; these will increase production by around 30 per cent and increase the factory’s workforce by more than 80 employees.
On 29 October Federal Marshals raided Chinese tyre manufacturer Shandong Linglong’s stand at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show, according to a variety of news sources originating from reports by US magazine Tire Business. In what must be a first, even for the characteristically glitzy Las Vegas event, government officials confiscated the contents of the company’s exhibit as partial repayment of a $26 million court judgment against the company made in 2010.
Double Coin Tires and its US distribution partner China Manufacturers Alliance, LLC (CMA) reports that it the companies are unveiling three new products at this year’s Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition, CMA will display one of the company’s giant off-the-road mining tyres, the Double Coin REM-11 40.00R57 E4. The 40.00R57 stands almost 12 feet tall and is the latest addition to a range of Double Coin giant OTR radials that includes other 57’, 51’, and 49-inch’ rim diameters.
According to Ulrika Persson, global marketing coordinator at Eldan Recycling A/S, at Reifen 2012 the Danish company intends to focus on its new system for recycling mining tyres and further improved systems for steel cleaning. “Last year we also introduced a combi-system for recycling of tyre, cable and electronic waste, which we also plan to focus on,” shared Persson. “As always we will also present our standard equipment, which is always popular to discuss.”
In light of only “modest” improvements on second half EBIT predictions and a “rather low quality free cash flow”, financial analysts are not optimistic about Michelin’s ability to sustain it share price.
In an investor’s report published 13 February, Morgan Stanley reported that Michelin’s 974 million euros of pre-tax profits (EBIT) in the period may have been 5 per cent above consensus expectations, but it was driven by gains in the mining tyres business.
Eldan Recycling has developed tyre recycling equipment that enables owners to process whole car and truck tyres including super singles and even OTR and mining tyres. De-beading of the tyres is not required prior to processing. The company uses a modular approach, which covers all customer requirements on equipment to process at different levels down the “recycling road” including production of shreds, chips, granulate and powder – all having their own platform within recycling. The various standard plants are “multi-size”, which give the customer total control over the production of a various range of output sizes. By a simple and quick change of the screen combinations in the machines a different range of output sizes is produced.
To state the obvious, good OTR/EM tyres don’t come cheap and immediate availability of the right product has been less than certain in the last five or six years. Therefore it only makes economic sense to treat tyres as an investment and to maximise this investment accordingly. Speaking recently with Tyres & Accessories, Jock Aitken, Michelin’s technical manager for Earthmover and Industrial Products, stressed the golden rule for OTR sector end-users wishing to do this. It is simply, he stated, a matter of fitting the correct tyre at the correct pressure upon the correct application.
There is a long tradition of mining in South Africa and the country is the world's leading producer of platinum, manganese and chrome, the second-largest producer of gold and the fourth-largest diamond producer. With such a history, it is fitting that South Africa plays host to the biennial Electra Mining Africa exhibition which, since its inception over 40 years ago, has grown to become South Africa's largest trade exhibition and the second largest mining show in the world.
Bridgestone Earthmover Tyres has announced a new tyre monitoring application to increase the longevity and safe operation of its tyres in underground mines. The UTM (Underground Tonne Kilometres per hour Monitor) is designed to allow underground mine operators – and the manufacturer itself – to analyse the key factors at play in the wear experienced in particular situations. It measures vehicle speed; distance travelled; the angles of ascent and descent; side loading movement; and the lateral, longitudinal and vertical forces exerted upon the tyres – a measurement achieved through the fitment of a three-dimensional accelerometer.
Belarusian media reports that tyre maker Belshina has signed a contract with VMI Holland for the supply of equipment to be used in the construction of giant tyres. Some 33.5 million euros has apparently already been invested for the production of mining tyres, and the company is intends to produce 21.00R35, 27.00R35, 33.00R51, 36.00R57 tyres for CIS and international customers.
Titan Wheel Corporation has introduced its Accelerated Change Technology (ACT) wheel, a design it says allows a service technician to change or rotate the rear tyres on a mine haul truck in a fraction of the time. The system, the manufacturer adds, also enhances safety, reduces service technician fatigue and increases profitability by reducing tyre maintenance downtime.
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