Mayne river

The Mayne River Gypsum mine is located about 195 kilometres south west of Winton on the Mount Windsor Station in south west Queensland. It is owned and operated by Mayne River Gypsum Sales. Gypsum mined at the Mayne River quarry is transported by truck to Winton where it is processed and sold.

Mayne River Mine Uses a Kawasaki Loader to Create Stock-piles and Load Trucks
Gypsum is extracted from the Mayne River Mining Lease by means of a Kawasaki loader that is used to scrape up the gypsum and place it into stockpiles where it awaits the arrival of a road train and trailers to transport it to the processing plant at Winton, a small town approximately 900 kilometres west of Rockhampton and 600 kilometres south west of Townsville. Transportation of the gypsum to Winton is often done at night to avoid the daytime heat and flies.

The usual practice of loading the gypsum at the Mayne River Mine is for the driver to fill the bucket from the gypsum stockpile, reverse back with the loaded bucket while it is lowered and approach the trailer in a forward movement, raise the bucket to the appropriate height and unload it into the trailer.

The loader is a rather large piece of mining equipment and the operator sits relatively high. The bucket is fixed to the front of the machine and is normally kept low to the ground when the machine is manouvering as it is less stable the higher it is held.

A Prime Mover and two Trailers Take the Gypsum From Mayne River to Winton
A prime mover towing two tipper trailers is used to cart the gypsum to Winton from the Mayne River mine site. The two trailers are owned by Mayne River Gypsum Sales. The prime mover is usually owned by a cartage contractor. The empty trailers are towed from Winton to the mine site where the trailers are loaded and returned to Winton full of gypsum.

The usual practice when arriving at the Mayne River Gypsum Mine is to park the empty trailers near the stock-piles of gypsum and for the driver to first check the loader for oil and water before starting its engine. The driver than drives the loader into the stockpile, fills the bucket , reverses back from the stockpile and drives the loader to the parked trailers where the loading begins, usually on the drivers side of the rear trailer first.

Mayne River Gypsum Transported to Winton at Night
As it is common practice to load gypsum at the Mayne River mine at night, it is usually done with the prime mover engine running and the headlights, clearance lights, a light mounted on the mirrors and another light at the rear of the cabin, all on, for added light. The lights mounted at the rear of the truck's cabin and the mirror mounted lights all shine towards the rear to light up the two trailers.
The driver usually took the shortest route from the gypsum stock-pile to the trailers necessitating reversing around the front of the prime mover and passing through the headlight beams. The driver would then continue reversing around the truck in a parallel fashion to the truck and trailers to check the loading.