Chile-based Antofagasta Minerales S.A. last week awarded a $140-million equipment supply contract to Finning International, the Vancouver-based Caterpillar dealer. The equipment will be used in the Esperanza copper-gold mine in northern Chile.

The equipment package includes 20 new Cat 797 haul trucks, 11 used Cat 797 trucks, two O&K RH340 hydraulic shovels and 26 other units including bulldozers and motor graders. Equipment deliveries will begin in January 2008 and more than 60 percent of the fleet will be delivered in 2008, with the balance delivered during 2009 and 2010. A six-year product support agreement for the equipment is currently being negotiated.

Construction on the mine is scheduled to begin in early 2008 and production scheduled to begin in late 2010.

Finning is the world’s largest Caterpillar dealer. It sells, rents and provides customer support services for Caterpillar equipment in western Canada, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Uruguay. It also owns Hewden, one of the U.K.’s largest equipment rental businesses.