GOLD DIGGERS - CablePrice

TRACK & WHEEL
West Coast contractor,
Rosco Contractors Ltd, finds
value in large-scale Hitachi
mining machinery.
By Glenn Croasdale
Over the past three years, West Coast
mining contractor Rosco Contractors
has significantly increased production
from the Francis Mining-owned Echo
opencast coal mine, north-east of
Reefton. In April, owner Ross Moore
purchased a new 52-tonne Hitachi ZX520LCH-3 heavy duty
mining excavator as the frontline machine for his latest
expansion, the opening up of the Wellman Basin (just a
stone’s throw away from Echo mine) . To find out what it
was fuelling Rosco’s rapid expansion I headed to the Coast
to catch up with the man everyone calls “Rosco”.
“To open up the Wellman Basin we needed something
with size, power and grunt,” explains Rosco. “In selecting
the 353hp Hitachi ZX520LCH-3, it met the needs of all
of the various components of the job and it is a strong
machine with excellent track gear – which is necessary for
mining operations.”
When the ZX520LCH-3 was delivered by CablePrice
(Greymouth), Rosco sent it to Stillwater where an
opportunity had arisen to “daylight” a railway tunnel
alongside HRS/Downers of Wellington. Situated on a fault
line, the job required careful
blasting and mass-excavation
of the hillside to expose the
deteriorating brick-lined
tunnel before demolishing it
and stabilising the remainder
of the hillside for secure and
unobstructed safe passage for
rail transport for the Coast.
It was at the Stillwater
jobsite, 40m above SH7 on
the hillside overlooking the
Grey River, that I caught up
with Barney Archer – Rosco’s
long-time friend, operator and
co-owner of the ZX520LCH-3.
Chatting beside the cab
of the ZX520LCH-3 – which
sports Barney’s nickname
“Biguns” on its right flank –
Barney says, “Coming from
a 35-tonne machine, the
new Hitachi seems slower”,
but quantifies that by
I like
the amount
of earth this
machine is
able to move
in a short
time.”
Barney Archer, co-owner
40 CablePrice