Mining manufacturer Liebherr Group says it has constructed the world’s tallest conventional crawler crane, standing at a height of almost 250 metres.
According to the company, the crawler crane’s main mast stands at 120 metres, while the luffing jib stands at 126 metres. It stood at 248 metres when it was first set up in July.
Liebherr also said it can lift a load of up to 624 tonnes with a single heave. This is the same as lifting around 600 small cars.
A company spokesman said 400 tonnes of slewing platform ballast and 1,500 tonnes of derrick ballast were placed on the machine on a special foundation.
To put the crawler together in this particular way, the main boom was steadily lifted with the help of the derrick winch.
The luffing jib was slanted down and the roller cart was let go. Then the hook block was then reeved in on a two-line basis, Sourceable reports. This was followed by the boom system being elevated into place.
This weighed 700 tonnes.
Once in place, the crane lifted a twin-axle LTM 1030-2.1, 24 tonne mobile crane.
Liebherr began work on a $65 million expansion of its Adelaide headquarters earlier this year. The expansion included a new three-storey office, workshops, warehouse component plant, and a distribution centre to the Para Hills facility.
The company’s T282 ultra-class haul trucks were commissioned by Thiess recently for the Lake Vermont coal project in Central Queensland.