A single buyer purchased Aus$16 million worth of equipment at a Ritchie Bros auction in Brisbane on September 18, setting a new single buyer record for the company"s auctions worldwide.

The buyer, Western Australian-headquartered Ausdrill, helped to contribute to Aus$36 million in gross auction proceeds at the sale - a new company record for an Australian sale.

The Brisbane sale was one of eight multi-million dollar unreserved public industrial auctions conducted by Ritchie Bros around the world during that week.

The purchases by Ausdrill, a diversified mining and services company with operations in Australia, the United Kingdom and Africa, included 20 rock trucks. The equipment will enable Ausdrill to begin mining operations in Australia.

The auction at the company's Melbourne site on September 20 generated gross auction proceeds of Aus$16 million, setting a new sale record for that site as well.

Almost 1100 equipment items from Downer EDI Mining and more than 100 other consignors were sold in the Brisbane auction, which attracted more than 960 registered bidders from 17 countries and including every Australian state and territory.

More than 750 auction lots from close to 100 consignors were sold at the Melbourne auction, which attracted more than 1000 registered bidders from 12 countries.

Ritchie Bros divisional manager in Australia, Warwick Mackrell, says: "The scale and success of these auctions prove that our unreserved auction methods have been embraced by industrial equipment users in Australia."