Large stone terraces that turn pink in the morning sun. Surrounded by a picturesque mountain landscape with sunny alpine pastures, dense mountain forests and pointed church towers – this is the Erzberg mine in the Styrian village of Eisenerz. Here, where ore rock has been mined for more than 1,300 years, the largest Fendt tractor is the smallest machine of all. But the Fendt 1050 Vario has an important role.

13 heavy-duty trucks, affectionately called 'haulies', four wheel-loaders and a Fendt 1050 Vario are used here in northern Styria to mine 12 million tonnes of rock every year. Of these, only about 3 million tonnes of pure fine ore are delivered to the blast furnace in Linz and to the Donawitz steelworks. "Economic and energy efficiency are essential for our ore mine. With only 33.5% iron content, we can only be economical by being better – that is, both generating high productivity using equipment more efficiently. Just to as a comparison, Australian deposits have an iron content of 65% to 68%,” says Josef Pappenreiter, explaining the challenge at the Erzberg mine. Having been with the company since 1984, he knows what he's talking about.

And snow falls in swathes here. Last winter was epic. New snowfall measuring more than 200 centimetres had to be managed in the mine. That's when the 517 hp tractor kicks into action with the snow plough and spreader or snow blower. Now, in summer, dust is the biggest challenge. Klaus Taxacher is currently pumping water from a specially designed mine lake into a 30,000-litre barrel. Driving up and down the mine roads with his team, he's bringing out water to try and prevent the dust from building up when the rock is excavated. No-one wants the iron ore mine to disappear under a cloud of dust. This work used to be done with converted heavy-duty wagons, which could be loaded with 70 m³ of water.

But with a net weight of 80 tonnes, this is in a poor ratio to the payload – regardless of maintenance costs and, above all, the fuel consumption. “The Fendt 1050 Vario is lighter, more agile and can also drive faster,” explains Klaus Taxacher. “The big dumper guzzles 70 litres per hour. The tractor has a fuel consumption of about 18 litres per hour. So, it's much more efficient and also more economical."