September 14, 2018 - MacKellar EPSA, an Australia-based mining and earthmoving company, moves over 500 million tonnes a year for mining and civil customers around the world. When the company was looking for a new hydraulic mining shovel to join the 350 mining machines in its Australia fleet, MacKellar turned to Caterpillar and local Cat dealer Hastings Deering.

The choice was a new Cat® 6040, which company Duncan MacKellar called the ideal fit for its application — Batchfire Resources’ Callide coal mine in Central Queensland. The 24-cubic-meter (31-cubic-yard) bucket provides exceptional flexibility with the hauling fleet, allowing it to efficiently load the mine’s Cat 785 and 789 trucks. Other attributes include the quiet and efficient C32 engine and multiple machine lives made possible by the shovel’s “rebuildability.” 

Long-time supplier Hastings Deering was responsible for getting the shovel up and running on site and will join MacKellar staff to service the new 6040 along with the rest of the company’s fleet of nearly 300 Cat machines. The new shovel was commissioned in July 2018. Hastings Deering captured the build in a time-lapse video.