The last 6 years saw a close cooperation
between the rope manufacturer CASAR,
the distributor Nobles and the Telfer
gold mine, based in the Pilbara region in
the state of Western Australia. The Telfer mine
is wholly owned by Newcrest Mining Limited.
Gold and copper are extracted, above ground
as well as underground. The copper and
gold deposits were discovered in 1972,
and mining began in 1977. In
2008 it was decided to increase
the extraction capacities to over
6 million tons per year. This provided
the basis for initial talks between
Telfer and CASAR, as Telfer were not
happy with the service life of the original ropes
of a South African manufacturer on the floor
hoisting machine and now the extraction capacities
were due to increase too. The hoisting
machine is a ground mounted friction winder
which transports a payload of 34.5 t at a speed
of 16.25 m/s from a depth of 1132 m to the top.