NARROW VEIN & LOW PROFILE MINING
A profitable niche
Narrow-vein and low-profile mining may still represent a small percentage of the overall mobile equipment market , but its customisation opportunities means it remains an enticing option for many specialist companies , Dan Gleeson reports
GHH Group claims to have one of the most comprehensive offerings in the low-profile and narrow-vein mining space , with a product portfolio that includes loaders , drills , bolters , auxiliary machines , complementary scalers and a large range of utility vehicles and cassette platforms .
Its low-profile LHD offering is comprised of the SLP-5 , SLP-6 and SLP-8 , able to carry payloads of 5 , 6 and 8 t , respectively , in the hard-rock mining space . It also has the SLP-14H , with a 14-t capacity , for industrial minerals mining .
GHH says it can support customers in various low-profile mining operations with machines for both production and development ends , covering 1.7-2.4-m-high stopes .
The hard-rock offering has variants of aircooled and water-cooled engine packages to suit global customer needs , with strong commonality and modularity across the fleet reducing the need for customers to hold significant amounts of spare parts .
The SLP-14H – the largest low-profile loader on the global market , according to GHH – has been running well for years in operations in Europe . Building on this is the new SLP-14E , a tetheredelectric loader released earlier this year , which is now successfully running in a low-profile environment .
The brand new , innovative direct drive electric drivetrain on board the SLP-14H will form the baseline for future developments , according to GHH . Its innovative design has significantly less components and hydraulics , resulting in less maintenance , less breakdowns and ultimately reduced maintenance costs and improved availability . The vertical coiling cable reel design on board the SLP-14H – proven out on other machines within the GHH portfolio – has spooling control , which significantly improves the cable life .
“ The SLP-14E is not only a technology trendsetter but also provides for improved visibility and comfort for the operator , with a brand-new ergonomically designed cabin and frame layout ,” GHH says . “ GHH is taking the next steps with this electric drivetrain and battery-electric drive , with full battery drivetrain designs in the development pipeline .”
Battery-electric technology has also come into the GHH Group low-profile portfolio thanks to the Mine Master offering of battery-driven drill rigs and bolters . Based off the same chassis for simplified maintenance and with 120 kWh batteries on-board , the Face Master 1.7KE and Roof Master 1.8KE are , GHH says , the perfect choice for low-profile operations where ventilation cost and operator wellbeing are of great concern .
In a drive to constantly improve and develop its products , GHH has also worked on enhancing its 8-t SLP-8 . The LHD has recently gone through improvements to enhance performance and assist customers in achieving higher productivity and reduced operating costs . For example , the implementation of a new swing-out cooler aims at providing ease of maintenance , reduced downtime and off-the-shelf harness availability for improved fitment .
The vehicle also boasts a long frame lifetime of over 20,000 engine hours , while the ROPs / FOPs operator compartment is designed with visibility in mind . This is complemented by a camera system and an easy-to-use 7 in touch screen .
The new brake pedal design and air conditioning blower on the machine are just a few of the extras focused on operator safety and comfort . The SLP-8 also comes with Wi-Fi
“ The SLP-14E is not only a technology trendsetter but also provides for improved visibility and comfort for the operator , with a brand-new ergonomically designed cabin and frame layout ,” GHH says
connectivity , including full machine condition monitoring , bucket weighing for productivity monitoring , electric brake wear and individual wheel temperature sensors .
Within GHH ’ s narrow-vein load and haul offering is the LF-3 loader , which features a high lift boom option and is suitable for working at depth as well as high altitudes of up to 4,000 m above sea level .
The largest loader in this offering is the LF-7 , a 7-t loader that is payload matched to the MK- A20 , GHH ’ s 20-t dump truck . The LF-7 has a swing-out cooler : one of many design aspects to allow for ease of maintenance .
The LF-3 and LF-7 have various engine packages available including US Tier 2 , Tier 3 , Tier 4 and EU Stage V water-cooled engine packages , plus diesel particulate filters , allowing them to be sold into markets with such legislation .
All the low-profile and narrow-vein products come with proximity detection and collision avoidance systems that are Level 9 compliant . They also come equipped with the GHH inSiTE digital analytics platform , which can be customised to support specific customer and application needs .
In support of the extremely strong loader offering in “ tight ” mining spaces , GHH also partners with UVB , a utility vehicle supplier , which offers a large portfolio of 4 t , 6 t and 8 t utility vehicles . These are supplied as individual specialised vehicles – like the tyre handler or the road preparation vehicle – or cassette carriers offering a large range of standard and customdesigned cassettes .
One of the newest UVB vehicles developments is the MV U60D Rigid Tracked CBE bulk emulsion carrier . This unit is powered , as standard , by a water-cooled 126 kW DEUTZ TCD 2013 LO4 US Tier 3 engine , with the U60D sub frames adapted
32 International Mining | JULY 2023