King of the roads

Versatile by name, and versatile by nature: this equipment rental company is servicing the diverse needs of WA's Goldfields region thanks to the efficiency of Caterpillar equipment.

Spanning 771,276 square kilometres, the Western Australian Goldfields-Esperance region is bigger than states such as NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

So if you’re an equipment business hoping to service the area, having reliable, efficient machinery with solid backup is an absolute must.

It’s a lesson Phil Yates has learnt well, since landing in the Goldfields hub of Kalgoorlie in 2006 with the objectives of driving roadtrains and operating mining gear.

“The gold mining industry here was founded in the late 1800s,” he said. “That is what attracts people to the area, as tourists, investors, families looking to get ahead, or professionals looking to gain experience and build a career in the largest gold-producing region in Australia.

“After 12 years or so doing retail excavations in Sydney I was ready for a change, and Kalgoorlie offered opportunities to do earthmoving work that you just don’t get in a major city.

“Quad roadtrains, mining excavators, dump trucks, bulldozers. They don’t exist in Sydney, and the money on offer was mind-blowing at the time.”

So he spent six years spent working with roadtrains and in open pit mining in the goldbearing dirt around the Goldfields, which eventually gave him the opportunity to start up his own earthmoving business, Versatile Plant Hire & Contracting.

“I started with a Bobcat on hire to a mill just out of town and added a second one for mine site jobs on my week off,” he said.

“Before too long I found myself with five Bobcats, a 3.5 tonne excavator and a fivetonne tipper. No employees, just me and the machines working a 7-days-on roster.”

It was a far cry to where the business is at now. Thirteen years after buying his first machine, Versatile Plant Hire & Contracting has a fleet of more than 50 machines and trucks and around 40 staff, and Phil is back to using the skills he learned working on building sites and in backyards in Sydney.