By pairing Barracuda buckets with Hercules truck beds, Schlam offers miners an integrated solution tailored for surface mining in hard rock environments, where every cycle and pass count.
In the world of surface mining, particularly in Australia’s hard rock mining sector, every tonne counts.
With operations running at scale and equipment operating under intense conditions, efficiency, durability and optimisation of the load and haul cycle are critical.
It is no longer enough to focus on one component – true value is found when each element works in harmony.
Schlam’s evolution as a global leader in load and haul attachments has seen the company embrace this challenge by engineering a complimentary system that brings together the loading and hauling ends of surface mining operations.
Through its Hercules mining truck beds and Barracuda mining buckets, Schlam delivers a high-performance, pass-matched solution designed for the rigorous demands of today’s mining operations.
Leading in material hauling efficiencies
Schlam’s flagship Hercules mining truck bed, first introduced in 2003, has become a fixture in hard rock mines across Australia and around the globe.
The Hercules range is known for its unique curved design, which not only facilitates easier and cleaner material discharge but, according to Schlam, enables a payload increase of more than 10 per cent compared to standard beds.
Built specifically to perform in the challenging environments common to hard rock surface mining, Hercules beds are constructed from high-strength steel and are engineered with thicker wear materials in high-impact zones, while maintaining lightness in structural areas
Their proven performance includes examples like Hercules A0071, which operated for 16 years in the Western Australian goldfields before retirement.
As Schlam nears the milestone of delivering its 3000th Hercules mining truck bed, the company continues to evolve its product range to meet the shifting demands of modern mining.
The recent launch of the Hercules Ultra, an advanced truck bed engineered specifically for ultra-class mining trucks, represents the next step in Schlam’s journey as a global leader in load and haul innovation.
“We develop our products based on the specific site needs of our customers, forever working on our principle of working ‘stronger together’,” Schlam Payload managing director Hendrik Mueller said.
“A lighter and stronger truck bed enables miners to carry more ore, which not only translates into increased payload but also savings in terms of fuel and ultimately carbon emissions.”
Precision loading
At the front end of the load and haul cycle, Barracuda mining buckets deliver Schlam’s solution for precision loading in hard rock mining environments.
Engineered for excavators and wheel loaders, these buckets are carefully customised to suit ground conditions, material properties and site-specific requirements.
“The mining bucket is the business end of the load and haul process, so it’s important to match the right bucket with your haul equipment,” Schlam vice president of innovation and strategic focus Amit Bareja said.
“Filling a haul truck with three and a half buckets rather than three is inefficient no matter which way you spin it.”
That principle lies at the heart of pass matching, the process of aligning the bucket size and fill factor with the haul truck’s capacity to ensure optimal loading with the fewest number of passes. Misalignment often leads to underloading (wasting payload potential) or overloading (increasing mechanical stress and compliance risk), both of which are costly.
“Not correctly payload matching excavator, shovel and wheel loader buckets with haul trucks means the mine risks giving away productivity and money with every load,” Bareja said.
By pairing Barracuda buckets with Hercules truck beds, Schlam offers miners a complete, integrated solution tailored for surface mining in hard rock environments, where every cycle and every pass counts.
Built for durability and serviceability
The Barracuda range continues to evolve, with the T2 model representing a major leap in durability and maintainability. Designed in close collaboration with miners, the Barracuda T2 bucket features two distinct zones: a structural base, and a replaceable high-wear lower shell.
The replaceable lower shell is engineered without the need for heel shrouds or liner packs, making it lighter and easier to service. Constructed from thickened steel to wear down to a pre-defined threshold, it can be rapidly swapped out during scheduled maintenance, significantly reducing downtime.
The T2’s design also removes the risk of stored energy hazards common with traditional rolled wear plates. Its unique configuration makes it up to 15 per cent lighter than conventional buckets, Schlam said.
The first Barracuda T2, commissioned at a major Pilbara iron ore mine in 2022, has clocked more than 10,000 hours. T2s are now operating across surface mining operations throughout Australia.
One notable deployment came in 2023 when Fortescue introduced Australia’s first operational electric excavator, a Liebherr R 9400 E, fitted with a specially designed Barracuda T2, further highlighting Schlam’s ability to deliver future-ready equipment for a lower-emissions mining landscape.
From the outset, Schlam has focused on a core belief: “Built for miners, with miners”. This ethos not only applies to product development but continues through the ongoing support it provides its customers.
“Our sales and technical support teams work closely with our customers to ensure that every product that we build is uniquely designed and built to meet specific site requirements,” Mueller said.
“We’re also further growing our after sales support, ensuring that the customer experience is exceptional at every step.”
The on-site support provided by Schlam’s Product Life Cycle Care program includes payload optimisation, wear mitigation and planning for asset longevity, all backed by Schlam’s teams and manufacturing facilities in Australia and key global markets.
Global strength, local focus
Schlam’s evolution as a global mining partner is also underpinned by significant investment in advanced manufacturing, especially at its main production centre in WA.
The company has adopted LEAN manufacturing, introduced robotics and automation, and developed digital production systems, allowing it to increase throughput without compromising safety or quality.
The result is a production line capable of delivering customised Hercules and Barracuda units for the world’s leading miners, including BHP, Fortescue, Glencore, Northern Star and Newmont.
“With the help of our customers and our own people, we’ve developed into a truly global company, providing leading load and haul solutions to leading global miners,” Mueller said.
In surface mining, where load and haul is the backbone of daily operations, Schlam’s integrated Hercules and Barracuda solution offers a significant competitive edge, the company said. The synergy between loading and hauling equipment helps to ensure precise pass matching, maximising each truckload while minimising machine wear and energy use.
For Australian miners in the hard rock sector, this is more than a product pairing – it’s a high-value system engineered for the realities of mining operations.
As demand grows for efficiency, sustainability and safety in surface mining, Schlam continues to evolve, showing that when the mining bucket, the mining bed and the team behind them are working together, performance takes care of itself.
This feature appeared in the July 2025 issue of Australian Mining.
