Calcite?s multi-million dollar to be on public display

While there have been various eyewitness reports of big cats being spotted in parts of Presque Isle County, none could be bigger than the one found at O-N Minerals. Any cougars running around the quarry better stand clear of the 12-foot-tall tires on the recently purchased 2007, 994F CAT wheel loader. Calcite operations are preparing to put the $3.2 million loader into use, as the plant begins a new season in April, which is expected to improve efficiency and prepare the plant for the future. Operators were being trained this week, according to company officials.

The equipment brings the 994-production loader fleet to three with a 10-year-old Hitachi shovel being literally put out to pasture. It was retired to a field not far from the plant buildings.

?IT WAS gradually getting in bad shape,? said plant manager John Nordin of the Hitachi. ?Maintenance was becoming a big issue with it.? To replace the shovel it would have been $4.5 million alone. ?We needed to replace a loading unit and we chose to go with a front end loader instead of another shovel,? added Nordin. ?We thought it was more versatile.?

The new 994, purchased from a plant in Ohio and brought to Rogers City in sections, is expected to decrease cycle time. ?We speak in terms of cycle times,? he said. ?How quick can a loader go up to the pile, dig, and turn around and dump it in the truck. The sooner you load the truck, the sooner the truck gets going.? Nordin said the faster hydraulics and improved horsepower (1,577) should improve efficiency by about 15 percent. It has a 25-yard bucket and a 16-cylinder, four-stroke engine. Another added feature will be a GPS unit, which will measure the elevation.

THE LARGER-than-life vehicle will be on display for the public just outside of the main gate, Wednesday, March 28 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Human resources supervisor Sue Counts said RCHS seniors and kindergartners from town have been invited out as well. ?This is a big deal for the plant,? said Counts. ?We?re excited about it, and we want the public out there to know what is going on here.?

Counts said the loader is expected to set the standa

rd for high productivity, increase fuel efficiency, reduce engine noise, and improve operator comfort. ?It shows people that we intend on making what we have better; we want to put money into the system, and make it better,? said Nordin. The plant is also preparing for an increase in shipping in the next couple of years. Changes in United States environmental policy have restricted sulfur dioxide emissions caused by coal combustion, resulting in an increased use of low sulfur western coals. But limestone is the key component in what has become the standard technology for cleaning sulfur dioxide from smokestacks.

?What we have done is looked at that market, and have signed a few contracts already,? said Nordin. ?We expect our shipments out of Calcite to increase beginning in 2008. So, we need good equipment, we need equipment we can depend on? and to keep up with these types of changes.?

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