Osborn customises Track Crusher for Azerbaijan

July 2008

Bulk materials handling and minerals processing specialist Osborn has secured an export order to Azerbaijan, for one of its locally-manufactured track-mounted primary jaw crushers.

Marketing director Martin Botha says the order is an exciting and challenging one for the Elandsfontein firm, which has customised the R5-million machine to cope with the massive temperature range in the region.

The aggregate mine where the Osborn Track 3042 will be employed is located in Quba, 200km North of the Azerbaijan capital of Baku. “The temperature here ranges from minus 20 in Winter to around 40 degrees in Summer,” Botha notes. To cater for this, Osborn fitted heaters in the machine’s hydraulic oil tank, as well as a cold-start system on the engine. The company also manufactured a thermally insulated electrical enclosure and incorporated a heating system into its panel pressurising system. All electrical cabling was changed from PVC to silicon-coated, and the instruments on the track unit were changed to accommodate the temperature extremes.

Botha explains that the machine has also been fitted with a hydraulic hammer, supplied by Astec Group sister company BTI, to handle oversize material.

“The customer opted for the Osborn Track 3042 on the basis of its reputation as a rugged, heavy duty unit that’s simple to operate and well-suited to the arduous operating conditions in this remote part of Azerbaijan,” he adds. The track unit has been designed to process 600mm feedsize material at 300 to 400 tph, depending on the weather conditions and ice.

Shipping the 52 000 kg unit to the country that borders Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia will also pose its fair share of challenges for Osborn.

“The conveyor will be crated and shipped separately,” Botha says. “Special ‘lifting hooks’ have been installed on the rest of the unit, and it will be lifted onto the ship for transport from Durban to the port of Poti in Georgia, which borders Azerbaijan. The ship will go via Antwerp, Belgium.”

Osborn technicians will be on hand when the ship is offloaded in Georgia, and will escort the track unit to its final destination in Quba, Azerbaijan.

/Ends

Based in Elandsfontein, Johannesburg, Osborn Engineered Products SA (Pty) Limited (trading as Osborn) is a leading manufacturer of bulk materials handling equipment and specialist turnkey materials handling contractor for mobile and fixed crushing and screening plants and conveyor systems.  

Osborn is a member of the Astec Industries Inc. group of companies, a leading American manufacturer of plant and equipment for aggregate processing, asphalt road building and pipeline and utility trenching.