Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) has three new coal trucks hauling black rock at the mine for three local charities.
The trays of the trucks have been painted in the colours of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service, Hunter Prostate Cancer Alliance and the Hunter Breast Cancer Foundation, which will each get an agreed donation from each load of coal the trucks haul on the Glencore/Yancoal mine site near Singleton.
The charities will also receive donations from events held throughout the year.
There will be five new trucks in total with the other two due to arrive on site by the end of the year, and will each support a different local charity.
HVO general manager Tony Morris said the Hunter-based charities were chosen because they make a positive difference to the health and welfare of HVO employees, their families and the community.
“We want to build partnerships with each charity that includes sharing information about their services with our workforce and undertaking other fundraising, and support activities for them throughout the year,
“While Hunter Breast Cancer Foundation and Hunter Prostate Cancer Alliance are new partners, we’ve had a 20 year partnership with Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service. Largely through workplace giving by our generous employees, HVO has provided $1.1 million over that time to help the service to save lives of Hunter people.”
Mr Morris said the new trucks are part of a half a billion dollar investment HVO is making in capital equipment over five years to improve efficiency and provide staff with the right tools to get the job done. He said the new trucks are more fuel efficient, have a larger capacity, are quieter and provide better amenity for operators than the older fleet.
“We’re bringing nine new trucks online in 2022 with five more arriving next year. Six new excavators arrived this year with two more arriving in 2023. We’ll have four new motor graders by the end of the year and 11 new dozers will arrive next year. Over the five years we’re bringing in other new equipment, technology and systems as part of a $2 billion overall investment.”
The two Komatsu 930-E trucks each weigh 521 tonne and have a payload capacity of 304 tonne.