Fox Conveyors & Materials Handling Pty Ltd has snared its first major longwall mine conveyor maintenance contract with an agreement to service and maintain the Kenmare underground and surface conveyor system in central Queensland. Part of the South Blackwater mine complex, Kenmare is operated by QCT Resources.
Fox, formed in September last year to supply and maintain conveyor components and systems, has also announced a $4 million contract to supply a shiploading facility in Mexico.
The company is the Asia Pacific distributor for Melco idlers, pulleys, conveyor structure and other conveyor components, and the Australian agent for US-based Dos Santos’ DSI Snake Sandwich conveyor system. It also manufactures conveyor structure, pulleys and drive units locally at Warners Bay, Newcastle. The Fox business include remnants of the old Bliss Fox company, and the underground equipment manufacturing operations of Whitehall Australia.
A spokesman for Fox said the company aimed to not only supply and service conveyor systems, as it already did in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Queensland’s Bowen Basin, and Western Australia, but also to buy operating systems and lease them back to mine owners. The sites would be comprehensively supported by Fox under such arrangements.
The deal with Kemmare is understood to be a four-year evergreen alliance under which Fox is responsible for maintaining conveyor operating and maintenance costs at fixed levels.
