SURFACE LOADING
CR collaborated with Jaws on a new bucket , lip and GET combination for 800 t excavators at Whitehaven Coal ’ s Maules Creek
General Manager of Maules Creek Mine , Jorge Moraga , explains the challenge they faced , “ Our problem was we have a low fill factor , and for that reason we are doing more than four passes to load an ultra-class truck .”
CR was among multiple OEMs who were approached with the challenge , but only CR and Jaws were willing to work closely with Whitehaven Coal , Maules Creek Mine to find a collaborative solution .
After careful review , CR found that there weren ’ t any existing products that would fix the problem . CR ’ s GM of Product Management , Quintin Nienaber , explained that “ the current lips in the market and the current buckets in the market don ’ t allow for that optimisation to happen . So , we worked with Jaws to come up with a scale testing protocol using three or four different bucket sizes combined with the equivalent lips .”
CR used scale testing to simulate scaled-down , real-world scenarios validating and testing designs in a way that ’ s time and cost-efficient . CR can get results quickly and confidently without
putting mine site operations at risk . The results clearly identified the optimum bucket design and lip design to suit this particular application with the hope of mirroring the results in the field .
CR and Jaws ’ s hopes were realised when the new bucket and lip combination was applied to Maules Creek Mine ’ s EX8000 backhoe excavator , immediately boosted productivity just by switching the buckets .
IM spoke to Miguel Guimaraes , CR GM East Australasia about the project and related technology . He said following the success at Maules Creek the new bucket has now been rolled out to other 800 t class excavators across multiple customers and minesites in coal .
He also commented on how the Titan 3330 system allows direct analysis of GET and lip performance : " The Titan 3330 system uses sensors installed on the excavator to calculate digging and lifting forces , along with real-time bucket payload . A key data point is dig energy , which directly measures the resistance required to engage the material presented to the attachment ."
As CR is a solutions-based business , he says things are also well underway in developing new and innovated solutions for the hard rock and metals mining . Recent releases include the RazerEdge RE2522 cast lip to suit 100 to 200 t class excavators and DecaEdge DE1545 wheel loader cast lip .
IM