Story 24. War of the Dozers.

CAT D9L

 

Komtsu Dozer.

Shortly after EMECO took over Mt Gunson Mine from CSR in 1984 a well used Komatsu D4 size Dozer appeared on site.

Compared to the two much larger D9 Dozers we used on site in the mine, the tired little Komatsu was less than one quarter of their size and was simply too small to be of any use to the mining operation, we attempted to use it to push off the tip heads, but with dump trucks arriving every minute to deposit another 50 ton of overburden the tiny machine quickly became completely overwhelmed by the task plus it was in constant danger of being run over by even the smallest of equipment on site. The other problem was the tracks would often fall off usually in a most inappropriate location, or when reversing the blade side arms would sometimes become unattached and the blade would be dragged along by the hydraulic lift cylinders.

Originally the Dozer was proposed for use in the mill, management hoping its size would make it handy to assist with clean ups and getting in and among the various crushers, conveyors, or pushing in the feed at the main surge pile when the feed cone became to low. After trials in the mill it was found the task of pushing in feed could be performed much quicker and easier by one of the many 988B front end loaders we previously used.

The little dozer sat unused, in a quiet corner of the mill.

A problem arose when it was discovered who ever had this Dozer in their possession, was though the complexities of the P&L (Profit & Loss) accounting paper work being charged for its hire and use whether in use or not, (I suspect this Dozer was owned by one of the company directors and simply put out on site to appear as a hire and used to supplement his/her income ).

The Mill decided in an effort to eliminate the unwarranted cost, to secretly walk the machine 3km and hide somewhere it in an unfrequented part of the mine area.

The mine upon discovery of the diminutive tracks would easily locate its hiding spot and having no use for the Toy Dozer loaded it into the back of one of the dump trucks and driven back to the Mill where it was simply tipped onto the surge pile.
And so started a sort of to and fro war between the Mill and the Mine, where the unwanted Dozer made numerous trips up and down the haul road as each department fought to retain non possession .

Occasionally if the dump truck operator was engaged in carting ore to the mill and given the task of returning the Dozer, it was often accidentally tipped off into the actual primary crusher, when the driver simply forgot about the change of load. By the time the sound of screeching metal on metal as the tracks slid along the tray while exiting the truck was heard, it was far too late for the truck driver to stop the inevitable.

After returning the Dozer and depositing it onto the bottom of the surge pile late one evening, the Dozer war came to a quiet end, at least for three or four weeks.

While trying to reconcile his books at the end of the month the accountant noticed neither the Mine or Mill had included the tiny Dozer in their monthly figures, each department claimed not to have used or be in possession of the machine  and both claiming not to have seen or used it for over a month.

I was sent out to search the entire mine site and find the missing machine, management fearing it may have been stolen from site

After an entire day of following very old tracks and looking in places it was last reported the trail seem to have gone cold.

Searching through the service records I discovered the last sighting report was from the serviceman who had refueled it as part of his normal daily service of all equipment on site, and had listed it as being located in the Mill.

After spending a few hours on a 988 loader moving part of the huge surge pile I uncovered the dozer having spent the month completely buried under several thousand tons of crushed rock.

The Dozer then spent the next several weeks tagged out of service and parked out of the way near the workshop, conveniently forgotten, while waiting to be inspected for damage before being returned to service.