About HighGrade

HighGrade is Australasia’s weekly online mining magazine delivering to readers the high-grade cut of mining industry news from around the region, and the globe. read more

Contact Us

Click for larger

Komatsu's mining lift

February 1 - 7, 2012

JAPAN’S biggest mining and construction equipment manufacturer Komatsu says a 30% increase in full-year mining equipment demand (for its fiscal year ending March 31) will help offset a steep fall in sales for its construction division in China in the past six months and the effects of a stronger Japanese currency against the American greenback.

Read full article

Click for larger

Cat plows into Chinese coal market

January 25 - 31, 2012

CATERPILLAR continues to see evidence of China’s domestic coal industry transformation, and of the long-term attractions of its acquisition of Bucyrus, with an order to supply a new automated longwall plow to Lvliang Dongyi Group member Gasification Co Ltd.

Read full article

Heavy metal briefs: Sandvik, Caterpillar

February 1 - 7, 2012

SWEDISH manufacturer Sandvik is celebrating its 150th birthday this week.
Founder Göran Fredrik Göransson’s steelmaking enterprise, formed in Sandviken, broke new ground with the use of the Bessemer process which would revolutionise steel manufacturing. The company quickly became a significant global industrial player.

Read the full article


Heavy Metal briefs: ABB, Soil Machine Dynamics, FLSmidth, Keech, Caterpillar

January 25 - 31, 2012

SUB-SEA mining units employed at the world’s first large-scale submarine mine, off the coast of Papua New Guinea, will feature ABB transformers and switchgear after the engineering giant won a contract to supply the equipment to British manufacturer Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD).

Read the full article


Joy, Fletcher bolt together

January 25 - 31, 2012

JOY Global unit Joy Mining Machinery has struck a new distribution deal with JH Fletcher & Co, giving it the right to exclusively sell and service Fletcher equipment outside North America, Australia and Norway, and broadening its mine bolting-machine offering.

Read the full article


Long haul to diamond mine

January 25 - 31, 2012

A LONG-range mine haul truck with purpose-built dump body are on their way from Australia to the Ekati diamond mine in northern Canada.

Read the full article


Atlas Copco expands mining range

December 15 - 21, 2011

ATLAS Copco will add electric mine trucks, utility vehicles and ventilation systems to its broad underground mining and tunnelling equipment offering after closing its acquisition of fellow Swedish firm GIA Industri in the first quarter next year.

Read the full article


Sany gets top billing

December 1 - 7, 2011

CITI has put Hong Kong-listed Sany Heavy Equipment International on a superior valuation footing to Joy Global and Caterpillar targets in the Chinese coal mining equipment sector, arguing the Liang Wengen-controlled Sany deserves a “scarcity premium”.

Read the full article


Cat invests in trucks and engines in India

December 1 - 7, 2011

THE SITE for a new $US150 million Caterpillar Perkins engine plant in India hasn’t yet been determined, but the US machinery giant has expanded investment in its Chennai mining truck plant to $US170 million with its latest $62 million commitment.

Read the full article


BHPB rejects Cat deal speculation

November 24 - 30, 2011

BHP Billiton has dismissed speculation that it has signed a massive new exclusive equipment and technology supply deal with Caterpillar.

Read the full article


In brief: Atlas Copco, ABB

November 24 - 30, 2011

WITH new higher-payload underground mine trucks looming at the other end of development tunnels one manufacturer is driving confidently into 2012 ahead of stalled rivals.

Read the full article


Auto-trucks to drive more even Komatsu course

November 17 - 23, 2011

A SEEMINGLY steadier growth course for Komatsu’s mining equipment business over the next three years, compared with those of Caterpillar and Joy Global, looks like it is being driven in large part by the recent $US750 million-plus order placed by Rio Tinto for autonomous dump trucks.

Read the full article


Heavy metal briefs: Vermeer, Austin Engineering

November 17 - 23, 2011

US-BASED Vermeer Corporation has confirmed the sale of 14 continuous surface miners to Fortescue Metals Group.

Read the full article


Assessing the truckless mining option

November 10 - 16, 2011

AS AN alternative to traditional truck and shovel mining operations, ‘truckless mining’ (In-Pit Crushing and Conveying systems or IPCC) is attracting global interest for its significant sustainability benefits and potential to reduce operating costs in mining operations.

Read the full article


Growth key to keeping Jaws off consolidation menu

November 10 - 16, 2011

IN the face of a fast consolidating Australian mining supply sector, attachment manufacturer Jaws says it will hold steadfast to its private status through strong growth, predicting a 35% year-on-year uplift this year.

Read the full article


Cat makes China underground move

November 10 - 16, 2011

HONG KONG-publicly listed Chinese longwall mining equipment manufacturer ERA Mining Machinery has become the target of a takeover offer worth up to $US885 million from Caterpillar as the US equipment giant strives to achieve its goal of doubling mining-sector business to about $US25 billion by 2015.

Read the full article


Cat, Atlas provide reasons for optimism

October 20 - 26, 2011

OCTOBER 25: CONSTRUCTION and mining equipment heavyweights Caterpillar and Atlas Copco have both reported record third quarter sales, with the latter adopting a more cautious stance on the outlook for the December quarter and beyond.

Read the full article


Australia, China keys to lower-cost Sandvik capacity growth

October 20 - 26, 2011

ABOUT 600 Sandvik employees and contractors will soon start working at the company’s new $A50 million Hunter Valley regional centre in Australia, described recently by a major investment bank in its review of the manufacturer as its major global mining facility and a key to future production flexibility.

Read the full article


Digger has new ‘dress’ on

October 20 - 26, 2011

IT MAY still be causing heart pangs for some former Bucyrus employees, but the first Caterpillar hydraulic mining shovel shipped from the ex-Bucyrus factory in Dortmund, Germany, “painted in full Cat trade dress” has been commissioned at a phosphate mine in Finland only six weeks after Caterpillar closed the acquisition of its fellow US manufacturer.

Read the full article


Pride of the fleet

October 20 - 26, 2011

A GROUP of employees at Western Australian-based drilling contractor and manufacturer Ausdrill have restored a piece of the state’s mining history to its former glory.

Read the full article


View entire archive