Austin Engineering gets first orders from Indian market

Mining equipment manufacturer Austin Engineering has received purchase orders for 17 heavy load haul truck trays from a tier one iron ore producer in India, its first in this prospective market.

The orders for the ULTIMA trays will form part of a tray replacement programme with a service life of approximately four years.

Austin’s expectation is that the customer will progressively replace its fleet of truck, though this is subject to further purchase orders being released.

Austin CEO and Managing Director David Singleton, said: “The receipt of this tranche of tray orders is a great achievement for Austin as it represents the start of a genuine presence in India and the opening of a new market for the Austin business in APAC.

“Our activities in the region have been strongly supported by Austrade, the Australian Government’s international trade and investment development agency.

“Our solutions-based approach to enhancing product performance, our strong manufacturing and export capabilities in APAC, along with our experience in producing customised equipment for Australia’s iron ore miners, meant India was a logical market opportunity for Austin to explore.”

The 17 trays, valued at around $2.7 million, are now in production at Austin’s manufacturing facility in Batam, Indonesia, and will be delivered ex-works from Batam at the end of March 2025 ready for shipment.

The purchase orders follow the successful trial and evaluation of four customised ULTIMA truck trays purchased from Austin in 2023, which focused on the tray’s payload benefits, according to a statement.

“Over the testing phase, Austin was able to increase payload and reduce maintenance overhaul periods of the trays by using its knowledge base working in the Pilbara region of Western Australia where the ULTIMA tray has been successful in iron ore mining.”

Austin has appointed a full time representative in India to oversee the contract and to further business development opportunities in the country.

Picture: Austin Engineering/Ultima