Vermeer Corp. recently announced that Fortescue Metals Group has agreed to purchase 14 Vermeer Terrain Leveler surface excavation machines (SEMs) to be used in Fortescue’s iron ore mining operations located in Western Australia.
“This order comes after significant investment in product development by Vermeer, as well as commitment by the local dealer to support the operations,” said Mark Cooper, senior director for specialty excavation with Vermeer. “Having a respected industry leader like Fortescue embrace the technology further validates its place in the market.”
The Vermeer SEMs allow mines to selectively extract mineral beds in surface mining applications. Operators can also control material sizing, producing small-sized material in a uniform configuration so minerals can be handled more efficiently than product produced by drilling and blasting. The uniform product size allows more efficient settings on secondary and tertiary crushing systems; savings that can continue well past the primary crushing stage.
Order delivery is scheduled to begin in December and additional machines will ship through September of 2012.
