Massive ore handling chutes produced for the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia’s South Gobi region have opened a new expansion window for Murray Mining Services in the country. Previously, it was believed that these huge chutes could not be manufactured locally in Mongolia.

“About 50-60% of the equipment and other products used in large mines such as Oyu Tolgoi is made abroad and imported into Mongolia,” says MMS CEO, D.Batkhuu. “However, we have become a leader in Mongolia’s steel fabrication sector because we have produced the world’s largest and most heavy-duty underground ore unloading chutes. Inspection and evaluations by international third-party companies have confirmed the chutes meet world standards and requirements.”

The four 60-70-tonne chutes have been delivered to Oyu Tolgoi in record time.

D.Batkhuu told a Mongolian newspaper the project was creating new opportunities for skilled local workers. Nearly all of MMS’ eighty personnel are Mongolian. The company’s 2,700sq.m Ulaanbaatar facility hosts modern, automated equipment such as high-capacity steel cutters, rollers and drills, and can produce 100,000kg of fabricated product a month. “We mainly engage in steel fabrication, repair, maintenance, lifting devices and steel mining structures,” D.Batkhuu told Today News Mongolia. “To produce high-quality products that meet international standards, we have been in contact with similar foreign and domestic companies since 2016, and have partnered with Murray Engineering to ensure we meet or exceed these standards.”

Murray forms one-half of the MMS joint venture, and is a leading Australia-wide mechanical, electrical engineering and manufacturing company, which was established 15 years ago. Murray saw an opportunity to work with South Gobi Development Corp to manufacture international-standard products and services on the doorstep of Mongolia’s South Gobi mega-mines, and other emerging projects in the resource-rich country. MMS now follows in Murray’s footsteps, offering world-class, fully certified manufacturing to the mining and energy industries.

MMS has also had the capacity to hire and train more local people as demand for the company’s services grows. They include women such as welder T. Zoljargal, who said the company was providing new opportunities in Mongolia and she wanted to “show that women can work in any field with no less skill than men”.

As well as the long-life, complex chutes used in high-wearing applications deep underground at Oyu Tolgoi, MMS is producing 5-6m tall insulation and ventilation doors for the mine – replacing Chinese imports – and has manufactured and supplied anchors, excavator buckets and sledges, and assembled 30 trays for Komatsu 930E surface dump trucks each with carrying capacity of 300 tons. (mining monthly)