Antonov Airlines has safely transported 40 tonnes of mining equipment from Vatry, France, to Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina, to meet a strict deadline and ensure mining operations continued.

The oversized cargo sections, which included a large semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill head, were split into four sections, and transported on an AN-124-100 aircraft chartered by Dynami Aviation.

“Airfreight was the only way to safely transport this mining equipment and remain within the customer’s timeframe to limit any impacts on mining operations,” said Jérémy Sigault, operations manager, Dynami Aviation.

Antonov Airlines’ AN-124-100 was chosen for this project because of its ability to accommodate more than 700 cbm of unusually shaped cargo.

“The four pieces of cargo were loaded and unloaded using the AN-124-100’s onboard cranes and will be used in the creation of new tunnels at a mine near to Comodoro Rivadavia,” said Olha Danylova, commercial executive, Antonov Airlines.

“We thank our esteemed partner Dynami Aviation for its professionalism and dedicated team which always contribute to a successful transportation.”

The cargo’s journey took two days via Sal, Cabo Verde, where there was a crew rest and refuelling stop, and a second technical stop at Viracopos, Brazil.

Antonov Airlines, a Ukrainian project cargo airfreight expert, has seen an increase in charters for mining projects in 2021, completing three flights of equipment weighing 370 tonnes from Australia to Latin America in March, and two flights with 216 tonnes in total from Turkey to Burkina Faso and Liberia in April.

Antonov Airlines specialises in the transportation of outsized and project cargo worldwide using its fleet of seven AN-124-100 “Ruslan” aircraft, two of which have a payload up to 150 tonnes, its 60-tonne payload AN-22, and its unique 250-tonne payload AN-225 “Mriya”, which is the largest aircraft in the world, as well as smaller AN-74 and AN-26 aircraft.