Big wheels keep on turning

Thiess Pty Ltd is turning the wheels on tyre wastage by increasing the average tyre life of its Off Highway Truck (OHT) tyres in the 240 tonne truck class.

Thiess executive general manager of resource development, Paul Cassano said increasing the life of the OHT tyres was an important initiative for mining projects. It not only addressed the global OHT shortage, but also reduced the environmental impacts caused by the production, transport and disposal of OHT tyres.

“Over the past year, we have achieved an overall tyre life average of 6400 hours up from an average 5500 hours achieved three years ago; some sites more than doubling their tyre life,” Cassano said.

“For example, at the Burton Coal Mine in Queensland, tyre life reached more than 8000 hours with a number of tyres lasting more than 12,000 hours — that equates to big savings.”

Some of the tyre-saving measures include: road crews who remove anything likely to damage tyres; erecting barriers and signage in hazardous areas; installing reversing cameras on trucks to give drivers greater visibility; and hazard awareness.

Each OHT tyre has a diameter of 3.5 metres, weighs almost 4000 kg and, unlike standard car tyres, is made from synthetic materials; their big brothers are made from recoverable and recyclable materials.

OHT tyres are made from a number of various rubber compounds and operate from below zero to extreme temperatures.