Tyre handler was safer and more efficient for operators
Manufactured in 1983 using a modified Caterpillar 920 wheel loader, the Elphinstone 923 Tyre Handler was a specialised piece of equipment designed to make changing tyres on underground equipment safer and more efficient for operators.
Elphinstone sold the 923 Tyre Handler to Renison Mine, located in Rosebery on the West Coast of Tasmania. Dale Elphinstone travelled to the mine to train the operators in person. The second owner was Dick Beckett, of Becketts, Exeter, Tasmania, where the machine presently resides.
The 923 Tyre Handler was one of 7 underground service units designed and manufactured by D.B. Elphinstone Pty Ltd in the 1980s. The range also included the 814 Underground Dozer, 980 Rock Bolter, 925 Scaling Unit, 925 Service Unit (with basket), 4000 Forklift Truck, and the AP20 Articulated Personnel Carrier.
Machine Record - 923 Tyre Handler
Machine history records show the following:
- Based on: Cat 920 Wheel Loader
- Machine serial #: 0507816
- Engine serial no: 48V58580
- Customer: Renison
- Elphinstone job#: 1344
- Delivery date: 31.10.1983
Renison Tin Operations
Tin was first discovered in the Renison Bell area in 1890 by George Renison Bell. In the 1930s, extensive exploration of the region led to a surge in mining activity.
In 1958, Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company Limited acquired the site, investing in considerable infrastructure to bring mining activities into line with modern production methods.
Expansion continued well into the 1990s with ownership changing hands several times, but each investing in the modernisation of mining operations.
In the early 2000s, Renison Tin Operations was born under the operation of Bluestone Mines Tasmania Joint Venture, a partnership between Metals X Limited and Yunnan Tin Group.
