JAHKAI — Equipment Hire: Wet & Dry

Overview

Mining and tunnelling equipment represents the single largest capital commitment in any underground operation. The wrong equipment selection — the wrong OEM, the wrong model, the wrong specification — creates problems that persist for the entire life of the machine: higher operating costs, lower productivity, increased maintenance burden, and spare parts supply chain issues that can ground machines for weeks.

Jahkai provides two distinct equipment services. Wet hire deploys our equipment together with our experienced operators and maintenance crews — a turnkey solution where the client receives productive machine hours without the complexity of fleet ownership, operator recruitment, or maintenance management. Dry hire provides the equipment alone, allowing clients who have their own operating and maintenance capability to access specific machines without the capital commitment of purchase.

Underpinning both services is our independent equipment advisory capability. We are not tied to any OEM. We have operated across every major platform — Sandvik, Epiroc, Caterpillar, Komatsu, Normet, Mitsui — and we understand the real-world strengths and weaknesses of each. This independence means we recommend the right equipment for the application, not the equipment that generates the highest dealer margin.

Wet Hire vs Dry Hire

Wet Hire — Equipment + Operators

Complete machine package including experienced operators, maintenance crews, and supervisory oversight

Jahkai manages all operator competency, fitness-for-work, training currency, and fatigue management

Maintenance responsibility remains with Jahkai — scheduled services, breakdown response, and component change-outs

Client pays a per-hour or per-shift rate that covers machine, labour, and maintenance

Ideal for clients who need productive capacity quickly, without the lead time of recruitment and training

Operators are familiar with the specific machine, reducing the learning curve and damage risk associated with unfamiliar equipment

Scales up and down with project requirements — add or remove machines without employment commitments

Dry Hire — Equipment Only

Machine provided without operators — client provides their own operating and maintenance crews

Lower hourly rate than wet hire, reflecting the client's assumption of operating and maintenance responsibility

Maintenance support packages available as an add-on — from advisory-only through to full maintenance management

Spare parts supply coordination and component exchange programs to minimise downtime

Ideal for clients who have competent operators but need access to specific equipment without capital purchase

Pre-delivery commissioning and operator familiarisation training included

Condition monitoring and reporting available to protect both the asset and the client's production schedule

Available Fleet Categories

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Underground Fleet

LHDs from 7t to 21t class (Cat R-series, Sandvik LH-series). Underground trucks from 30t to 60t class. Development jumbos (Sandvik DD-series, Epiroc Boomer). Production drills (Sandvik DL-series). Rock bolters and cable bolt rigs. Shotcrete sprayers (Normet Spraymec). Charge-up units. Scissor lifts and elevated work platforms. Underground utility vehicles and personnel carriers.

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Surface Fleet

Rigid-body haul trucks from 100t to ultra-class. Articulated dump trucks. Hydraulic excavators from 30t to 800t class. Surface drill rigs for blast hole and production drilling. Wheel loaders. Dozers. Graders and compactors. Water trucks and service vehicles. Complete surface mining fleet packages sized to match production targets and pit geometry.

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Tunnelling Equipment

Roadheaders — Sandvik MT720, Mitsui S300/S200. TBM support equipment including segment handlers, grout plants, muck car systems, and rail-bound logistics. Tunnel ventilation fans and ducting. Probe drilling rigs. Tunnel formwork and lining systems. Concrete batching and delivery equipment for tunnel applications.

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Ancillary & Support Equipment

Primary and secondary ventilation systems (fans, ducting, regulators). Dewatering pumps and piping systems (submersible, positive displacement, multistage). Underground lighting plants. Mobile generators and power distribution. Compressed air systems. Fuel and lube delivery systems. Workshop containers and mobile maintenance units.

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Raise Bore Equipment

Raise bore machines for vertical and inclined openings from 1.8m to 6.0m diameter. Pilot hole drill rigs. Reamer heads and stabilisers. Rod handling systems. Ground monitoring equipment for raise bore operations. Complete raise bore packages including equipment, operators, and maintenance support.

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Paste Fill Equipment

Paste fill reticulation systems including positive displacement pumps, pipeline, valves, and distribution infrastructure. Batch plant equipment. Fill barricade materials and installation equipment. Quality monitoring instrumentation. Complete paste fill system packages for underground backfill operations.

Equipment Sourcing & Procurement Advisory

Beyond hire, Jahkai provides independent equipment sourcing and procurement advisory services for mine operators and project developers who need to purchase equipment but lack the in-house expertise to make informed decisions.

Equipment selection and specification — Matching equipment to the specific requirements of the operation: ground conditions, heading dimensions, production targets, grade, ventilation constraints, and maintenance infrastructure. We define the technical specification before approaching the market.
OEM evaluation and comparison — Independent assessment of competing equipment platforms from Sandvik, Epiroc, Caterpillar, Komatsu, Normet, Mitsui, and others. We evaluate on total cost of ownership, not purchase price alone — because the cheapest machine is rarely the most economical over a five-year operating life.
Total cost of ownership analysis — Capital cost, operating cost per hour, scheduled maintenance intervals, component life, spare parts pricing and availability, and residual value projections. We model the true lifecycle cost so our clients make decisions with complete financial visibility.
Procurement management — Tender preparation, bid evaluation, contract negotiation, delivery logistics, customs and import coordination, and commissioning oversight. Managing the procurement process from specification through to the first productive hour.
Used equipment assessment — Condition inspection, remaining component life estimation, rebuild cost analysis, and fair market value determination for used equipment purchases.
Fleet sizing and optimisation — Matching fleet composition to production plans, development schedules, and budget constraints. We model equipment utilisation to ensure clients buy the right number of machines — not too many (wasted capital) and not too few (production bottleneck).

Training & Knowledge Transfer

Operating and maintaining mining and tunnelling equipment requires skill sets that must be developed through structured training and supervised practice. Jahkai's equipment training programs cover both operations and maintenance disciplines.

Equipment operation training — Machine-specific operation training for all equipment types in our fleet, delivered by qualified trainers with direct operational experience on the equipment being taught. Training covers pre-start inspection, safe operation, productivity techniques, and emergency procedures.
Maintenance fundamentals — Basic mechanical, hydraulic, and electrical maintenance skills for mine site maintenance personnel. Scheduled service procedures, fault diagnosis techniques, and the systematic approach to maintenance that prevents small issues from becoming major failures.
OEM-specific maintenance — Platform-specific maintenance training developed in collaboration with OEM technical support teams. Covers the specific systems, diagnostic tools, and procedures required for each equipment family.
Condition monitoring training — Oil sampling techniques, vibration measurement procedures, thermal imaging interpretation, and the analytical skills required to translate monitoring data into maintenance decisions.
Fleet management system operation — Training on MineStar, DISPATCH, and other fleet management platforms for dispatch operators, system administrators, and the production supervisors who use fleet data to make operational decisions.
Procurement and specification skills — Training for client procurement teams on how to develop equipment specifications, evaluate tenders, negotiate with OEMs, and manage the procurement lifecycle. We train the client's people on the specification and on the machine.
Workshop management — Planning and scheduling, parts management, quality systems, and the management practices that transform a workshop from a reactive breakdown response unit into a proactive maintenance operation that prevents failures before they occur.

We train operators who understand their machines, maintainers who can diagnose and repair them, and procurement people who can specify the next one. We leave that skill with the people from the place the mine is.

Equipment Hire — Wet & Dry