The unstoppable earthmoving company keeps digging up new business. Paul Hellard gets his hands dirty.
For more than two decades, National Group has supplied heavy-earthmoving equipment and end-to-end mining services to the world’s largest resource companies. Their machinery is used at flagship Australian mines to dig up iron ore, coal, gold, nickel and other commodities. Led by founder Mark Ackroyd, National Group owns one of this country’s largest and most advanced fleets of mining equipment.
“National Group continues to grow and diversify its NSW operations,” says Ackroyd. “We have significant long-term contracts in coal and gold, and a strong pipeline of opportunities for sustained growth in NSW. National Group has created well over 100 regional jobs in NSW in the past two years. We intend to create plenty more.”
By his own account, Mark Ackroyd was born and bred into this industry. He learned all about the machinery by working on roadworks at a very, very young age. “Like eight to 10 years old, I was going to work,” he says. Ackroyd was clearly not scared of a risk, or playing the long game. He worked his way up from owning one bulldozer, into someone running this immense company, servicing a massive industry with deep relationships with the major mining companies like Fortescue, BHP, Rio Tinto and others.
“I always backed myself and it’s also important to have good customer support. You must work with your customers and gather their trust as well,” he says. “This is a big part of doing business. You must find the trust within your customers and be able to deliver a service that’s valuable for everyone.”
The Yancoal Moolarben project is a contract mining job, but in this case, National supplies the personnel as well, supervisors, and project managers, and they’re there to shift the earth at the back of the pit. “We do that with large equipment, huge dump trucks, a large excavator, and staff as well. So that’s very different to just them hiring out the gear,” he explains. “We run the whole job and it’s a 24/7 operation. This is a blue-chip mine at Moolarben Coal, and a three-year contract initially, with a two-year extension.”
Ackroyd says the Moolarben contract diversifies National Group in other ways. “Our company is best known as a leading supplier of heavy-earthmoving equipment to the large miners. The Moolarben contract expands our work in mining services and further strengthens National Group’s unique end-to-end offering and its operational diversification.” National Mining Services is well-positioned to take on more work in mining services by providing mining and infrastructure services to National Group’s major open-cut mining clients. The business has extensive capabilities in large-scale mining projects, meeting production requirements in excess of 15 Mbcm per year of waste and coal.
Ackroyd says National Mining Services’ position within the National Group is a competitive advantage. “Through National Group, National Mining Services has access to one of the country’s most advanced mining fleets, a large supply of experienced labour, and access to capital. Most of all, National Mining Services has a great team.”
National Mining Services will use National Group’s ultra-class mining equipment on the contract, including Liebherr R9800 excavators, Liebherr T282 dump trucks, and other ancillary equipment. The contract will create 75 jobs.
A large-scale excavator can cost up to $20m, and weigh up to 800-tonne. It can also take 18 months to manufacture one of these offshore and a bit more obvious now. National Group owns over 300 vehicles, covering the Caterpillar, Komatsu, Liebherr and Hitachi brands. Ackroyd details that they range from bulldozers, and to smaller to larger dump trucks. “While we have some of those, we also have smaller trucks at $15m to $2m each, and we’re always looking to widen the range.”
Global political and environmental pressures are known to be gaining on the mining of fossil fuels. National Group has been working in the background to expand their work, while there are still calls for the ‘black rock’. Commodity diversification is a strategic goal of National Group. “Whilst we remain positive on the long-term outlook for coal and have a significant pipeline of work in the sector,” says Ackroyd, “National Group continues to increase its exposure to other commodities.”
For example, National Group has won significant contracts in the gold sector in recent years. They are continuing to expand in Western Australia, increasing exposure to iron ore. The services businesses within National Group, for example, National Heavy Haulage, continue to grow, further diversifying its business. “Longer term,” explains Ackroyd, “our goal is to do more work in commodities exposed to the boom in electric vehicles and renewables, for example, lithium, nickel, and copper.”
“In fact, our long-term sustainability strategy is built on three main foundations. First, we continue to increase diversity within National Group, particularly with respect to gender and culture. More employment of women and First Nations peoples at National Group is a focus. Our new apprenticeship program aids National Group’s diversity goals by attracting young people, including women.
“Second, National Group is expanding its corporate social responsibility program. For many years, we have supported sporting and industry associations, often in regional areas where our employees live and work. We are expanding that program, particularly in areas such as mental health and other health-related charities. This work is central to National Group’s long-term sustainability and our organisational culture,” he said.
“And third, National Group continues to invest in state-of-the-art equipment. The latest machinery from the world’s top manufacturers typically has higher environmental performance and safeguards,” Ackroyd adds “By industry standards, we have a relatively young, modern fleet. In addition, National Group continues to collaborate with its customers to understand their sustainability goals and ensure we help achieve them.”
Remote clearance
Wolff Mining is one of National Group’s newer companies, purchased three years ago, complete with its fleet of autonomous tractor systems, the CAT D11T. The drivers can operate the dozers from a comfortable office equipped with multiple screens and controls. “It’s also the first in Australia to do this,” quips Ackroyd. “In fact, that’s the main reason that prompted me to buy it.”
“We could look at a scan of a site, from which they could then do remote-dozing of the area. Looking at this from more of a safety aspect for the operator, where they can’t be too close to high walls and other dangerous situations, this is the way of the future for mine sites,” says Ackroyd. “The days we can dig out a site completely remotely.” Now, this has been another success for the company as well. A very good add-on to National’s existing business.