Despite the current supply chain and shipping challenges, six containers of spare parts were successfully despatched from the Duratray manufacturing facility in Bayswater, Victoria, with intermediate destinations Montréal, Edmonton, Yellowknife and eventually to Ekati, Diavik and Gahcho Kue diamond mines.
All three diamond mines use Duratray Suspended Dump Bodies (SDB) for their haul truck fleets.
Since Duratray’s SDBs were first introduced to open-pit diamond mines in Arctic Canada in 2001, the method of delivering new dump bodies and backup spare parts has been via the Ice Road, from Yellowknife, passing across frozen lakes and hauled by the globally famous Ice Road truckers.
"Some of our diamond industry colleagues are recovering from long shutdowns and restructuring caused by the pandemic. We wish them well for a bright future in 2022", COO Steve Hall said.
Under extremely hard and abrasive rock conditions, combined with severe weather to temperatures below -40°C, the Duratray Suspended Dump Bodies have outperformed regular steel dump bodies which were considered uneconomic to repair after a service life of only 1 to 2 years.