Townley Group International was appointed by Troy Resources earlier this year to move the old McKinnon’s Gold Plant from Bill Arnold’s property just west of Cobar through to San Juan in Argentina.

TGI placed a team of three men based in Cobar for a period of six weeks to sort, stack, pack and transport all items to Newcastle wharf.

Managing director Peter Townley stated there were a number of challenges with this project as there are with any project. This one posed the problem of the great distance from Cobar to Newcastle wharf which is the marshalling area for the project.

There were around 100 loads of cargo including 30 wide loads and five escort and police escort loads. The last piece to depart Cobar was the giant Mill shell which has a diameter of 5.50 metres and weighed 55,000 kilos. For this movement we had to enlist the help of Bradshaw’s Ultra Heavy Haulage.

The shell was loaded by Cole for Cranes from Dubbo with two heavy lift cranes, 1 x 100 tonne and 1 x 55 tonne crane on Monday morning.

Then it was loaded onto Bradshaw’s specialised Nicolas hydraulic trailers that day.

The length overall for the truck and trailer was 60 metres and had 80 wheels with 20 axles.

“A number of weeks planning went into the moving of the shell, and a route survey had to be completed between Cobar and Newcastle as well as an option to Brisbane and also one to Adelaide,” said director Peter Townley.

“We needed to have these contingencies just in case the RTA could not grant the permit, it was touch and go for a little while.

“The permits were granted and the shell started its long journey to Newcastle. On Friday morning at 7.00 am the shell passed through Cobar for the very last time.

“The entire operation would not have been possible without the help of the people of Cobar.

“In particular Robyn and Rob Strong at the Cobar Central Motor Inn, Neil Urquhart the Golf Club.