VANCOUVER (CP) -- Heavy-equipment dealer Finning International Inc. said Tuesday its Canadian division has landed a deal to sell C$32.6 million of Caterpillar equipment to Western Canadian Coal Corp. and its partners for a B.C. mine.
Finning also announced it would add 30 jobs to expand its mining-related customer support services, with its branch in Prince George, B.C., designated as a regional service centre for northern British Columbia.
''Continued strength in the Western Canadian coal industry resulting from the global demand for steel and power has created excellent opportunities for Finning to increase the Caterpillar fleet in this territory,'' said Doug Whitehead, president and CEO of Finning.
The equipment package being sold to Western Canadian Coal and its partners consists of 18 pieces: five haul trucks with 190 tonnes of carrying capacity, five trucks with 150-tonne capacity, four Cat D10T tractors, a Cat 16H motor grader, a Cat 992 wheel loader, a Cat 834H wheel dozer and a Cat 385 excavator.
The equipment is being delivered this year and the first quarter of 2006. It will be used for pre-production stripping, as well as mining operations.
The Wolverine Mine is planned to be an open pit metallurgical coal mine. It's scheduled to begin production in July 2006 at an initial throughput rate of 2.4 million tonnes per year.
Finning shares [TSX:FTT] close at C$36.55, down 23 cents, and Western Canadian Coal shares [TSX:WTN] settled at C$3.20, down a penny, on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
(c) The Canadian Press 2005
