MINING TRUCKS
fuel economy.“ The drivetrain in the TR100 is designed towards giving the truck more power to perform effectively at the bottom of the pit and is a class leader in this respect,” says Lundberg. Terex Trucks’ rigid dump trucks offer transmission retardation as a standard feature as opposed to traditional brake retarders,“ resulting in excellent driving control, shorter cycle times, lower operating costs and an extension of the life of the machines’ primary braking system.”
In Siberian coal mines,-40 ° C is the norm rather than an exception, and six Terex Trucks rigid TR100 haulers are working at the Apatsky open pit mine, 1,700 m above sea level. The mine is situated in the northern-most point of Zabaykalye Territory, in the Kalarsk region and is owned by Russia’ s largest coal producer, SUEK. The trucks operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, carrying out up to 100 runs a day.
“ The TR100s work round the clock and have proved to be a good choice to suit our operating conditions perfectly,” said Oleg Likhodumov, Deputy Director of the Apatsky open pit mine.“ They are reliable and easy to maintain. For stripping areas and coal mining we also operate 38 t Terex Trucks articulated haulers, the TA400s.”
The cabin is equipped with safety guards for protection on site, and feature air conditioning and heating systems to ensure a comfortable and productive operation in the extreme conditions.
The trucks have been in operation since 2012, after the construction of the access road to the mine. They were delivered to Siberia in semiknocked down( SKD) form via St Petersburg in order to comply with the Russian Railways regulations. Once on site, it took two days to assemble and commission each truck before they were able to start providing their round the clock heavy-duty support.
Volvo largest ADT
Responding to a growing demand among customers for articulated haulers with larger payloads, the 55 t Volvo A60H is the largest articulated hauler it has introduced to the market. The A60H is designed for heavy hauling in severe off-road operations, including quarries, opencast mines and large earth-moving operations.
The new size also offers a viable alternative to rigid dump trucks and construction trucks operating on soft, uneven or steep roads, allowing a similar amount of material to be hauled in a shorter cycle time.
Powered by a 16-litre Volvo engine, delivering not only max power of 382 kW and 495Nm of torque, but also excellent fuel efficiency, the A60H features the latest innovations from Volvo- matched drivetrain, automatic drive combinations, including 100 % differential locks, all terrain bogie, hydro mechanical steering and active suspension. Fitted with an active hydraulic front suspension for higher hauling speeds in tough conditions, the A60H optimises operator comfort and stability during travel, allowing more material to be moved in a shorter time for unmatched productivity. The machine’ s dump support system, Hill Assist and load and dump brake“ all help the operator to stay in control at all times, for extra productivity and safety.”
Volvo says it builds on the high capacity and hauling speeds of the A60H with intelligent monitoring systems, such as MATRIS™, CareTrack™, and the Volvo On-Board Weighing System, further optimising production and minimising operational costs. Meanwhile, the Volvo Care Cab limits fatigue and promotes a productive work shift from each operator.
Volvo articulated haulers also owe their low total cost of ownership to their high degree of uptime.“ These durable machines are built to work hard over a long service life, with heavyduty front and rear frames, hitch and wet disc brakes. When it comes to servicing and routine maintenance checks, access is quick and simple, helping the haulers get back to work as quickly as possible.”
Burgh Plant Hire – a long-standing customer from South Africa – placed an order at Bauma for three Volvo A60H ADTs, as well as one Volvo EC950E excavator. The Volvo EC950 excavator was also unveiled to the public at Bauma and likewise represents a new size class for Volvo CE in its respective product category. Burgh already has a fleet of more than 100 Volvo machines at its coal mining operations – the majority of them ADTs. The Volvo A60H offers a 40 % higher payload than the company’ s previous largest articulated hauler, the A40G. When it comes to maintenance and servicing, Burgh Plant Hire will be supported by independent Volvo dealer in Southern Africa, Babcock International Group, which as outlined is also working with Volvoowned Terex Trucks.
Latest on LNG fuelled trucks
There is increasing interest in LNG projects from countries such as Ukraine, Indonesia, Russia and China, such as at the Eurochem Kovdorskiy phosphate mine in Russia where an LNG filling station has been located at the mine site pit and all contracts have been signed for manufacturing, delivery and installation of bi-fuel systems for BELAZ trucks. In the first half of 2015 at the request of the management of Kovdorskiy, BELAZ started work in equipping two mining dump
Teck Resources has begun a pilot program to test the use of LNG as a fuel source for its haul trucks at its Fording River steelmaking coal operation using the GFS EVO-MT 8300 and EVOMT 9300 Systems on six of its Komatsu 830 and 930 haul trucks
trucks of model 75139 with payload capacity of 130 t with dual LNG and diesel powered engines. BELAZ states:“ This will ensure high fuel efficiency during the trucks operation as well as define the efficiency of further adoption of such fuel types.”
Caterpillar has equipped a test mining truck, thought to be a 793D with their LNG Direct Gas Blending( DGB) system and are testing it in Tinaja Hills, with the system to be available on new trucks and for retrofits.
John Ingle, Marketing and Performance Manager, Large Mining Trucks at Caterpillar comments: " The current cost spread between diesel and LNG is such that in many parts of the world LNG conversion is not cost effective. Still, Caterpillar sees potential in the long term for LNG to reduce fuel cost at mines. While we have slowed moving to a commercial introduction of an LNG system, we continue to advance and validate the design. Caterpillar is leveraging our LNG technologies used in the oil and gas industries to develop a system for large mining trucks. Caterpillar has been running an LNG test truck at our proving ground for some time, and we have a pilot truck operating in a mine. Caterpillar continues to gain knowledge about the performance, operation, fueling and servicing of LNG mining trucks. We are also recognising some constraints the industry doesn ' t always consider when evaluating converting to LNG. One is to ensure that truck emissions standards are not compromised by adding an LNG kit that is not compliant with the methane component found in some emissions standards. Additionally, the cost of supplying large quantities of LNG to a mine can be prohibitive.
“ Elsewhere, the trial of a new prototype high density compressed natural gas( CNG) fuel system in Australia involved a converted Caterpillar 789C and was completed in Morayfield, Queensland, with up to 90 % fuel displacement. The 789C mine truck uses High
46 International Mining | MAY 2016