Caterpillar to produce underground loaders in Brazil

Caterpillar (CAT-N) has announced plans to open an assembly line to produce underground mining loaders at its facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Although the company already manufactures the R1600G LHD loader at its plant in Tasmania, Australia, the additional line in Sao Paulo will help to alleviate the growing demand for underground loaders.

“The expanded manufacturing base will have a significant impact on the availability of new machines for our customers,” said Chris Curfman, president of Caterpillar Global Mining in a release. “This is an important step, too, in moving toward our goal of being the global leader in underground hardrock mining equipment.”

The R1600G is a 29.8-tonne machine when loaded and has the potential to carry a payload of about 10.2 tonnes. Designed to load its bucket and carry the material to a dump point, the R1600G is powered by a 268- horsepower engine. The loader can also load underground trucks.

The company plans to move all production of the R1600G, one of five models of loaders produced by Caterpillar, to its Sao Paulo plant to open space for expanded production of other models in Australia.