Emergency response vehicle producer Rosenbauer and engine maker Volvo Penta have confirmed the Rosenbauer Panther aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) vehicle equipped with the Volvo Penta D16 700-HP engine has been selected by Vale to serve as its front-line fire truck at the Voisey’s Bay project in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
According to Patrick Boitumelo, head of mining and milling with Vale’s North Atlantic Operations, Vale will utilize Rosenbauer’s 6×6 Panther to safeguard mining operations in its remote, northern Canadian fly-in/ fly-out mine site location.
“Being a remote site in northern Labrador, we experience inclement weather, travel on dirt roads, and have limited water supply in certain areas of site, so we need a fire truck that can respond to any emergency in a challenging environment,” he pointed out. “We believe the new truck can handle anything from an aircraft emergency to a 777 fire and site accommodations fire safely.”
The Panther, built for off-road use, can disperse 9,000 liters of water or foam each minute and can extinguish a fire significantly faster than a typical over-the-road structural truck that is put to use at many mining operations. It is powered by the Volvo Penta’s 16-liter, Tier 4 Final-compliant engine and has a Rosenbauer N80 pump that can disburse at a distance of over 100 meters, or over 320 feet.
Rosenbauer added that the vehicle, which can also carry 1,500 liters of foam on-board along with 225 kilograms of a dry chemical agent to fight difficult three-dimensional fires, can discharge both while in motion by a single person.
Vale’s operations in Newfoundland and Labrador are made up of a high-grade open pit mine and concentrator, with a project to move underground and a hydrometallurgical processing plant in Long Harbour. At 6,000 metric tons per day, the Voisey’s Bay facility produces nickel-cobalt-copper concentrate and copper concentrate. The current Voisey’s Bay mine expansion project is on track for completion next year.
Source: facebook.com/volvopentaamerica