Central Asia Metals’ Sasa fleet upgrade: haulage and ground support notes for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
Central Asia Metals has begun upgrading the underground haulage fleet at its Sasa zinc-lead mine in North Macedonia with a new 32 t payload Epiroc MT436B truck, replacing ageing 20 t MT2000/MT2200 units. A second MT436B is scheduled for delivery, signalling a shift to higher-capacity, fewer-unit haulage on the existing ramp and orepass system. The change increases tonnes moved per cycle and may require revised ground support and traffic management to handle larger truck dimensions and higher axle loads.
Technical Brief
- Upgrading to modern trucks allows adoption of OEM collision-avoidance, proximity detection and better operator ergonomics.
- Newer Epiroc cabs generally provide ROPS/FOPS-certified structures, improving rollover and rockfall protection underground.
- Fleet renewal reduces unplanned downtime and associated exposure of maintenance crews to confined-space repair tasks.
- Standardised truck models simplify parts stocking and maintenance procedures, lowering error risk in critical repairs.
- Modern braking systems and retarder controls on MT-series trucks improve speed control on steep declines.
- Integration of OEM telematics enables monitoring of braking events, speeds and loads for safety audits and training.
- Similar brownfield underground mines can use fleet upgades to trigger reviews of traffic rules and emergency egress planning.
Our Take
CAML’s decision to upgrade the underground fleet at the Sasa zinc-lead mine aligns with its broader growth push evidenced by the planned A$232 million all-share acquisition of Cygnus Metals, signalling a strategy of sweating existing assets while adding new polymetallic options.
Moving from 20 t to 32 t Epiroc truck payloads at Sasa materially increases haulage capacity per cycle, which typically allows mines in similar narrow-vein zinc-lead settings in our database to either reduce truck hours for the same tonnage or push higher ore volumes without immediate shaft or crusher upgrades.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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