While the global mining market is forecast to grow to $2.7 trillion in at an impressive CAGR of 6.7% according to a recent report, head winds are facing the industry with challenges like many other industries resulting from the lasting economic effects of pandemic lockdowns, a stricter regulatory environment and increasingly volatile market conditions.
Many mining businesses that are replacing older equipment and trucks with newer models face disposition challenges. The selling process can take up more time and effort than desired. Finding good buyers and achieving good returns for their mining assets is not always easy.
Regional differences in equipment supply and demand
As a globally connected industry, significant regional variations in mining machinery and equipment supply and demand exist, creating price disparity in various local markets. For instance, the closure or decommissioning of a major mine in Australia may mean an oversupply of mining trucks or ADT&#;s in the Australian market, which can influence demand and price levels. However, at the same time, an increase in mining activity on the other side of the world in South Africa or Peru, may mean a shortage in those markets with mining operators willing to pay a premium for work-ready equipment. With international shipping rates now falling and largely returning to pre-pandemic levels, there are more cases where shipping equipment across the world from buyer to seller is a viable option.
In short, it is important to view the secondary equipment and machinery market in its entirety as one global business, and not focus on any one local market.
The downsides of selling locally
When selling machines privately in the local market, companies can spend an enormous amount of time and energy on marketing, buyer enquiries, inspections, price negotiations, documentation and more. Placing advertisements or enlisting a local dealer can be time consuming and often limits the exposure to only a local audience of buyers at prevailing domestic market values. At Ritchie Bros. we ask some of our mining clients:
&#;why limit yourself to a local market happens to be located, when you can work with a partner that provides direct access a global audience of buyers?&#;
This raises the question of which selling methods are being utilised by savvy mining companies to dispose of surplus equipment. More importantly, how to achieve the highest market value possible in the global equipment market to fund the purchase of new equipment or reinvest elsewhere to grow the business.
Making the switch to online
More mining operators and equipment sellers than ever before are turning to online disposition solutions, such as online auctions, marketplaces, and listing websites. Ritchie Bros. offers several of these that help promote assets to a global audience of buyers where equipment can be quicker sold online and shipped to offshore buyers. This kind of international exposure can lead to stronger asset pricing since more buyers viewing your equipment can lead to increased price competition between bidders around the world.
In this piece, I will take a closer look into the range of online asset disposition options open to mining operators when selling surplus equipment:
Choosing the right selling channel
The key to success is choosing the type of auction service that works best to meet your asset disposition goals:
1. Sell fast and certain at online auctions
If you want to achieve maximum exposure for your equipment and a quick and certain selling process, then probably unreserved online timed auctions are your best option. For example, Ritchie Bros. Online Timed auctions are held regularly on set dates in Dubai, servicing online buyers across the Middle East, Africa, Indian Subcontinent regions and internationally.
Ritchie Bros.&#; most recent December Dubai online auction attracted international buyers from 69 countries including Kuwait, India, USA and more, with 72,744 online page views and over items sold, further confirming widespread buyer acceptance of online auctions.
2. Sell with assistance and control over price
Marketplace-E, also operated by Ritchie Bros., is an always-on marketplace with selling assistance. You can set a minimum price so you have control over the selling price and process. Marketplace-E is a 24/7 online listing site for both global sellers and buyers. In this online marketplace, items can be listed quickly and promoted to an international audience of online buyers.
Selling from any location in the world
One of the benefits of the Marketplace-E digital selling solution is that equipment can be sold from the consignor&#;s location or one of Ritchie Bros.&#; local yards. This way, you can save cost on transportation and have the option to sell from anywhere in the world.
How to instill buyer confidence online?
A common question that I receive about online auctions is how online buyers around the world understand and verify the condition of items sold. Detailed inspection reports have been a gamechanger for the online auction business because we all know it&#;s possible to achieve a higher selling price when buyers understand exactly what they are buying. Ritchie Bros. offers professional inspection services to promote stronger buyer confidence. Online buyers can review extensive photos and guaranteed inspection reports &#; backed by IronClad Assurance &#; increasing buyer confidence even when assets are being purchased on a &#;sight unseen&#; basis. With our online auctions interested buyers can come and view the items in person to get a close look.
Continuing supply chain issues driving up demand
Good news for businesses looking to decrease their mining equipment fleet, is that buying brand new machinery is expected to remain challenging into with original equipment manufacturers still struggling to fulfill new equipment orders while demand continues to rise, resulting in delivery delays.
Overseas equipment buyers are being more creative in how they bridge equipment shortages, such as buying used machinery from online auctions and other online marketplaces. In short, it could be time to act for mining equipment operators looking to dispose of an ageing fleet as this may result in higher pricing for work-ready equipment.
Come and see Ritchie Bros. at Mining Indaba
If you are looking for heavy equipment buying and selling channels, market and equipment insights, inventory management software, or logistics, come to meet our team at the Mining Indaba show in Cape Town, South Africa, 6-9 February at stand L48.
Already, sellers are consigning machinery and equipment for the next Ritchie Bros. Dubai Online Timed Auction, which will take place in March , with bidding opening on March 14, and ending at staggered times on March 20 and 21.
For further information on Ritchie Bros. suite of selling solutions and a complete list of equipment available, visit rbauction.com/dubai.
Mining is one of the most vital components of modern society due to the use of mined minerals in almost every consumer product. Additionally, 50% of the nation&#;s energy comes from coal or nuclear power that uses uranium. To support this need for modern equipment, mines are found in all 50 states, including our home state of Nevada.
Nevada&#;s mining industry is the biggest export sector in the state. Precious minerals such as gold, copper, and silver are well-known materials mined. However, the state also extracts many other goods from the earth, including minerals used for both construction work and consumer goods.
Products mined for construction work include gravel, sand, gypsum, and limestone. These goods contribute to the building sites for erecting structures and infrastructure components required for modern living.
Consumers also directly benefit from Nevada mining operations. Minerals such as iron, molybdenum, and lithium are integral components to cars, computers, electronics, and other innovations used in daily life. Gold, copper, and silver also appear in electronics and fine jewelry.
Even energy can come from mining. With Nevada&#;s rich sources of geothermal energy, mining can extract heat from the earth to help create power.
Because the mining industry is so critical to modern life, manufacturing mining equipment is a booming business, too. This industry offers numerous types of heavy equipment for mining to meet the specific needs of either underground or surface operations.
Mining can happen at the surface or underground. The environment and type of material mined dictate the form of mining required and the equipment used. Both surface and underground mining have three main steps:
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Surface mining includes numerous techniques and is the most common method for non-fuel minerals, producing 97% of the amount mined. Miners choose surface extraction for minerals located close to the surface.
There are three main ways to mine on the surface. These methods include quarrying, open-pit mining, and strip mining.
In quarrying, miners may cut blocks of hard stone for ornamental purposes, such as granite for building. However, quarrying can also refer to extracting gravel, crushed stone, and sand using similar techniques to open-pit mining.
Open-pit mining requires creating a large pit in the ground from which the miners extract the needed material. This is one method miners may use to extract silver from the earth. The other technique is underground silver mining. Occasionally, removing a hilltop with explosives to expose the rocky materials beneath is the first step in creating an open pit. Rotary drills create the holes used for inserting the explosives for this process.
The third type of surface mining is strip mining, which primarily extracts thin layers of coal from near the surface. Since coal is not a major mining product of Nevada, the inclusion of strip mining here serves only to round out the three types of surface mining used around the world.
This form of mining starts with removing large strips of surface material, known as overburden. The first strips of overburden go outside the mine site. After extracting mined products from the initial strip, the newly created hole will hold the deposits of future strips of overburden removed from the mine. For hilly sites, contour strip mining requires using shovels or dozers to remove strips of overburden around the hill in terraces. For flat surfaces, area strip mining using equipment such as draglines or scrapers will suffice.
Minerals, ore, metals, or other goods located deep underground require different techniques for their removal. Mining may involve hard or soft rock, each of which requires specific tools to extract the materials. For instance, the tools used to dig soft materials might not provide enough power for cutting through hard rock.
Uses of mining equipment for underground mining include automating processes and using no-emission vehicles to preserve miners&#; safety.
Types of underground mining include the following:
To understand the available options you have for machinery, here is a list of mining equipment used for surface or underground mining operations, plus their uses:
To move materials around a mine site, workers need heavy-duty trucks. Also known as off-highway trucks, large mining trucks include both powerful mechanical models and environmentally friendly electric drive models.
Unlike conventional trucks, these mining vehicles have extra-large tires to support the heavy loads over uneven terrain commonly found around surface mines.
Additionally, these trucks can carry high payload capacities to accommodate the need for moving weighty mined minerals or ore out of the site. Large mining trucks also need to perform in the most extreme conditions &#; cold, heat, heavy dust, high altitudes, and steep slopes while hauling heavy loads.
Common applications of these off-highway vehicles include:
Sometimes called excavators, mining shovels used today grew out of the original steam shovel design used in years past. The models used now often employ hydraulics for moving the shovel to power through tough materials.
Overall, hydraulic mining shovels have similarities in their designs. Most have a base with either tracks or wheels atop which the pivoting cab sits. The pivoting action allows the operator to access material in a circle around the shovel without moving significantly. An articulated arm holds the shovel, both of which the operator controls from inside the cab.
Applications for hydraulic mining shovels include:
Large mining dozers move materials easily around a mining site. Plus, the choice of vehicles with wheels or tracks increases the types of surfaces these dozers can operate on. Additional attachments can change the dozers&#; uses to include the following applications:
Instead of using hydraulics to control the movement of the shovel at the end of the arm, electric rope shovels use a series of pulleys and ropes. Unlike hydraulic shovels, these models use electric operation, allowing for highly efficient performance over time.
Uses of electric rope shovels mimic those of hydraulic excavators. Therefore, rope shovels have the following applications:
Rotary drill rigs create holes through rock or soil, allowing placement of charges for blasting open mines. A rotary drill rig is one of two main types of drills used for mining. The other type is a percussion or hammer drill. For a rotary drill rig, the drill bit turns under pressure to cut into the rock. As the bit turns, the rock grinds down while compressed air sends it back up the drill to the top to keep the hole and bit clean.
Ideally, rotary drill bits create holes that range from 6 to 22 inches in diameter and average 30 to 60 feet deep. In some cases, though, miners will use rotary drills to dig holes up to 150 feet deep and as shallow as 15 feet.
For hammer rock drills, pressure forcefully shoves the bit into the ground to create a hole. To keep the hole clean, compressed air blows dirt out of the way to allow the bit to always strike new ground. Hammer drills with the piston located outside the hole (OTH) typically drill smaller holes of 5 inches or fewer in diameter.
Rotary and rock drills have the following uses:
Mines rarely have ready access to roads. Even those near major roadways still need roads built within the area for moving material and hauling mined goods out. Motor graders are used for surface operations around mines to create and maintain these roads.
When hauling minerals, ore, or other mined materials along roads, things like debris or ponding water can slow vehicles. Motor graders ensure the roads have the necessary grading and adequate drainage. By maintaining the integrity of roads used for transporting the material around and out of the mining area, motor graders play a vital role in ensuring the efficiency of the mine&#;s operations.
Common uses for graders include:
For picking up and quickly moving material across a mining site for loading into trucks, nothing matches the versatility of large wheel loaders. Sizes vary from compact to large. As the wheel loader&#;s size increases, its bucket capacity and load handling also go up. Matching the wheel loader&#;s handling capabilities for both volume and density of materials at the mine is crucial to ensure the machine will hold up to the rigors of daily use without premature wear.
For Cat® wheel loaders, the compact models work best with light materials and have a bucket capacity of 2 cubic yards. However, large models can handle iron ore or rock and can hold up to 38 cubic yards of rock in the bucket. You will have a varied selection of wheel loaders to fit in the space around your surface mine and handle the loads you need to move.
Typically found at surface mines, large wheel loaders can take on many tasks, such as:
Draglines are large excavators with a bucket supported by ropes and wires at the end of a boom. Lowering the bucket and scraping it along the ground collects overburden or mined material. Swinging the bucket at the end of the dragline around repositions it to dump its contents into a specified location.
Surface mining heavily uses draglines. These excavators have numerous functions, including:
Wheel tractor scrapers have a design similar to motor graders. However, the scrapers typically have an attached bin that collects the material removed from the ground&#;s surface rather than pushing it to the side as a grader does.
To operate the scraper, the driver uses controls inside the cab to raise or lower the bin to the ground. When on the ground, the edge of the bin scrapes the ground materials, which feed directly into the bin. When filled, a vertical flap holds the material inside the bin, so it does not spill during transport. At the deposit location, the bin tilts and opens in the rear to empty the scraped dirt.
Applications for scrapers include:
Underground mining trucks and loaders require specific operating parameters to function in confined spaces. Additionally, these vehicles cannot produce emissions in the enclosed environment of a mine. Therefore, standard trucks used for surface mining will not suffice for underground work.
Mining trucks and loaders for underground operations have specially built engines that do not produce emissions but still have enough power to move tons of rock.
For these machines, their uses include:
This guide to mining equipment should improve your understanding of the pieces available and their common applications. At Cashman Equipment, we want to be your source for all machinery, parts, and more for your mining operation. Whether you need new equipment, rentals, service, power solutions, fluid analysis, or parts, we can help you find what you need.
If you need more information or need to request a quote, contact us at Cashman Equipment by filling out a form or calling us at 800-937-. You can also visit one of our locations serving Nevada and the Eastern Sierras for direct customer service in helping you find the right types of heavy equipment for mining.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of Mining Machinery For Sale. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.