{"id":44553,"date":"2013-09-18T22:40:27","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T12:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=44553"},"modified":"2020-12-11T16:49:39","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T06:49:39","slug":"atlas-ready-for-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/09\/18\/atlas-ready-for-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlas Ready For Action"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
“Atlas” dwarfs the special guests invited to its official launch on Tuesday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The excavator is 20m tall with the boom extended<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

September 19, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Atlas may have carried the world on his shoulders, but for Stanwell Corporation, a swimming pool’s worth of dirt at a time is more than enough for their latest “toy” at Meandu coal mine.<\/p>\n

Stanwell Corporation’s new Hitachi EX8000-6BH excavator was officially unveiled at a ceremony at the mine on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

It will be mostly used to scoop away “overburden”, the soil and rocks that lay above the coal seams.<\/p>\n

Stanwell held a competition among employees to name the new behemoth.<\/p>\n

Jacob Orbell won with “Atlas” after the mythological Greek Titan who carried the earth.<\/p>\n

Stanwell Corporation chairman Warwick Parer said it took 28 semi-trailers to deliver the parts for Atlas to Meandu.<\/p>\n

Three cranes were hired locally to help with the assembly, which took a total of 2800 man hours (with no lost time for injuries or incidents).<\/p>\n

Atlas can carry 75 tonnes in every bucket-load, equivalent to a 25m swimming pool.<\/p>\n

It stands 10 metres high or 20m with the boom extended.<\/p>\n

Stanwell Corporation CEO Richard Van Breda said the excavator was the largest piece of machinery of its type in Australia.<\/p>\n

He said Stanwell had made a lot of difficult decisions recently to ensure it remained profitable but the new excavator was a demonstration of the corporation’s long-term commitment to the South Burnett.<\/p>\n

Related articles:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n