Exxaro Grootegeluk coal mine invests in the innovative Graco Dyna-star

Exxaro Grootegeluk Coal Mine is situated 25 km from Lephalale in South Africa’s Limpopo province, this open-pit mine employs 1.800 people and produces 18,6Mtpa of thermal and semi-soft coking coal using a conventional truck and shovel operation.  Grootegeluk has the world’s largest beneficiation complex where 7.600 tonnes per hour of run-of-mine coal is upgraded in six different plants.

Longer life & increased reliability

The Grootegeluk fleet of dump trucks operating on the mine is fitted with the latest technology to ensure continuous operation and reliability of their fleet. Flosolve (Pty) Ltd., a local Graco distributor,  recently supplied and installed the Graco Dyna-Star 10:1 hydraulic pump on one of the Euclid EH3500 diesel electric dump trucks. The Dyna-Star pump is a premier Graco hydraulic pump and is a new industry standard for industrial and vehicle lubrication.  The Dyna-Star supplies lubricant (grease) to the adjustable injectors lubricating the bearings on the Euclid dump truck.  The pump uses the existing low-pressure hydraulic power source on the Euclid to lubricate itself delivering longer life and increased reliability.  The versatile Graco Dyna-Star pump system is designed for both injector and progressive divider block systems.
 

Innovative design

During normal operation of the fleet, the Euclid dump trucks are subjected to excessive vibration as a result of their harsh operating environment, this vibration has in the past caused competing pump systems to fail. The Graco Dyna-Star hydraulic piston pump has an innovative design and is vertically orientated in order to eliminate the design “flaw” observed in old pump systems; this vertical orientation ensures continuous operation of the pump and the greasing system on the vehicle.

The Graco Dyna-Star reservoir is manufactured out of a thick 12 gauge steel and is powder-coated ensuring better durability. The Dyna-Star reservoir has a 50% greater capacity which means fewer refill cycles and longer machine availability.

“After 1000 hours we are very happy with the overall performance of the Graco Dyna-star, the system has an excellent design; where previous systems have leaked oil the Dyna-star is still clean.  The service and back-up we have received from Flosolve has been very good, their open-door philosophy is great, we really feel like family when we contact them. If the Graco Dyna-star continues to perform as expected the Dyna-star will definitely be the hydraulic pump of choice on all our dump trucks.”  Buks Swanepoel - Exxaro Grootegeluk Coal Mine.

Flosolve’s venture into centralized greasing systems dates back to the early 1990s and they have since been a leading supplier of fluid and lubrication equipment to Southern Africa.