MCG Cranes Go to Work in the Chilean Desert

Enlarge Image Able to operate in extreme environments, Grove cranes go to work in the Chilean desert.

December 12, 2005 — In the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, cranes from the Manitowoc Crane Group are helping build a new processing plant at one of the driest places on Earth.

Engineering specialist Sigdo Koppers has been employed by main contractor BARA to build the new facility for state-owned mining producer, Codelco (Corporación National del Cobre de Chile).

 

A variety of Manitowoc Crane Group products are working at Chuquicamata Mine 9,416 feet above sea level, including Grove rough-terrain models 58D, 530E, 530DXL, 760E, 855B, 875 and 9100; two GMK4090 all-terrain cranes; two Manitowoc Model 4100W crawlers; and two Potain tower cranes, an MC 85B, and a GTA 82.

 

Some of Koppers' favorite machines have been its Potain MC 85B tower crane and Grove GMK4090-1 model. The MC 85B, has been essential in helping erect a steel conical-shaped structure that will be used to stockpile ore. This crane features a 1.4-ton (U.S.) capacity at a maximum radius of 164 ft, and a maximum capacity of 4.3 tons (U.S.) at a 65.6-ft radius.

 

Koppers especially praised the Grove GMK4090-1 model, rigged with offset lattice jibs, stating how the crane's 90-ton (U.S.) capacity, 142-ft boom length and advanced electronic in-cab lifting data allowed it to maximize performance when picking and placing steel.

 

“We especially liked the information in the cab that's available to the operator,” says Jose Luis Chapa, equipment manager on site. “It made the whole lifting process so fluid. This crane's combination of boom, coupled with a jib that can reach up to 88.6 ft, played a critical role in helping erect steel. We're on schedule because of those two cranes.”

 

The new crushing and screening plant being erected by Koppers will be used to process huge piles of by-product that has accumulated over the past 80 years. It is now known that those piles once regarded as waste actually contain valuable copper and molybdenum deposits. Modern processes make it possible to extract those ores, creating the need for a new processing plant.

 

Koppers started this project in January 2005 and expects it to be complete before the end of 2005. It has already installed a 1.8-mile conveyor belt with 220-ton (U.S.) capacity Manitowoc 4100W crawler cranes, which transport the raw copper to another plant for further processing. One especially interesting lift involved three mobile cranes picking and placing 77 tons (U.S.) of steel at a 19.7-ft radius.

 

Due to the first round of cranes' performance, Koppers has ordered an additional five Grove RTs (two RT 870Es, two RT 530Es, and one RT 760E) to work a pulp and paper contract in southern Chile in coming months.