Old Cats at rest

[komatsu d475-1]

Check this out,This has been about for a long time but il post the link for those that havent seen it,Cheers .
Mervyn
http://englishrussia.com/?p=788
Ps this is a great website if u take the time to find the interesting stuff

[RichardJW~]

Check this out,This has been about for a long time but il post the link for those that havent seen it,Cheers .
Mervyn
http://englishrussia.com/?p=788
Ps this is a great website if u take the time to find the interesting stuff

Yes, some top pics in there and pretty much sums it up. You'd probably find that those machines have some seriously high hours on them but a lack of both spare parts and correct product maintence/repair training were the catalysts to the sorry picture. Added to which if the machines belong to The State then they can't be legally written off the books for 'x' amount of years and so end up sitting in these great bone yards.

New machinery arrives. New machinery gets worked continuously because it is initially more reliable and 200% more operator friendly. Major component fails, machine is stood down, waiting for parts. Second unit experiences mechanical failure. First unit cannibalised to keep 2nd unit working. And so it goes on.

I seem to remember a few years ago some firm advertising in the Earthmover mag. looking for Cat trained techs. to go to Russia to work in a mine somewhere.

[komatsu d475-1]

What ur saying is standard procedure in developing countries,My dad used to travel all over Benue state in Nigeria locating abandoned heavy plant,getting it shifted back to yard for repair and resale.Ur explanation above explains why this was necessary.
Another reason why this plant is sitting scraped here is the fact that this is a diamond mine.
De Beers diamond mining operation in Namibia has a policy that all old plant is put in a scrapyard so that it never has to leave the site therefore no chance of diamonds being smuggled out, this also applies to cars and pickups etc.This operation is half owned by the government and is basically a state within a state.Pict of De Beers scrap yard courtesy of Sosij on flickr .Regards.
Mervyn

[Greenmachine]

Extraordinary picture and story about the diamond mine. Has anybody had enough time to locate this on google earth yet?

[komatsu d475-1]

Extraordinary picture and story about the diamond mine. Has anybody had enough time to locate this on google earth yet?

Heres the cordinates Greenmachine as i cant get a link directly to google earth.
28°26'4.00"S and 16°16'15.46"E Cheers

[Greenmachine]

Looks like all that old iron out in the African desert is about to meet its maker!

http://www.khl.com/magazines/demolition-and-recycling-international/detail/item41556/Caterpillar-equipment-recycles-old-mining-equipment/

Google Earth - Lat: 28°26'6.62"S Long: 16°16'8.92"E - Quite a few scrapers out there by looks of things.

Greenmachine