BelAZ trucks for Australian company Rio Tinto

The Belarusian automobile engineering company OAO BelAZ is now on the list of suppliers of heavy-duty mining vehicles of the Australian mining company Rio Tinto, BelAZ representatives told BelTA.

BelAZ was granted the capability to sell its vehicles after taking measures to comply with requirements of Australian customers for mine dump trucks. Once compliant, OAO BelAZ was inscribed into the list of suppliers of heavy-duty mining vehicles of the company Rio Tinto, BelTA has been told. BelAZ Deputy Director General for Marketing and Export Policy Kirill Kazachenko said that BelAZ is ready to satisfy Rio Tinto’s demand for mine dump trucks in Australia by 100%.

A regular round of talks between BelAZ and Rio Tinto took place as part of the Asian-Pacific international mining expo Aimex 2013 in Sydney in August where a design booth of the Belarusian company was represented. The booth’s operation was organized in association with the company Apeg Pty Ltd, a dealer of BelAZ, as well as the certified service center Sharps Heavy Equipment Repairs. Other Australian mining companies – Xstrata, Adani, and GVK – showed an interest in BelAZ, too.

BelAZ delivered its first trucks to Australia in 2005. In 2012 the company exported vehicles with the carrying capacity of 240 tonnes and 360 tonnes to Australia. The vehicles have proven their effectiveness. Now eight BelAZ dump trucks operate in Australia.

Founded in September 1948, the Zhodino-based mechanical engineering company Belarusian Autoworks (BelAZ) was incorporated into a joint-stock company in 2010. As of October 2012 OAO BelAZ is the management company of BelAZ Holding. BelAZ offers rock haulers, frontal wheeled loaders and bulldozers, tow trucks, special vehicles for underground operations, heavy-duty trucks for metallurgy industry, and other specialized vehicles. BelAZ accounts for a third of the global market of rock haulers and is a leading global supplier of quarry machines.