CONTINUOUS CUTTING
Seeking continuity
Conceptual thinking around mechanical cutting needs to now be replaced by commercial continuity, Dan Gleeson says
In this same article last year, Komatsu Mining’ s Colin Wade( Sales and Service Manager for Mechanical Hard Rock Cutting Systems) said:“ We’ re now going through the process of working with contractors to find this perfect trifecta.”
That perfect trifecta he referenced to make a continuous cutting project a success was made up of Komatsu local support, a contracting partner and an‘ open’ mining company.
The company may have hit the jackpot with its most recent announcement featuring the MC51 hard-rock continuous miner.
This machine looks like it could be back cutting in Canada soon after the OEM signed an agreement with Cementation Americas to deploy the technology at Magris Performance Materials’ Niobec mine in Saint-Honoré, Quebec, Canada.
The MC51 is designed to transform hard-rock excavation using DynaCut technology, an undercutting disc technology for mechanical cutting. The machine has a cutter on a single, five-axis robotic boom that can profile any shape within a nominal 5 x 5 m profile, according to Komatsu. It is also able to cut within 50 mm of plan, with the resultant excavations exhibiting high tunnel quality and a reduction of over break.
After the machine cuts the rock into consistently sized small chunks, the material is gathered into the centre and conveyed to LHDs, trucks or external conveyors to be hauled away.
The result of more than 10 years of research and development, the MC51 is fully electric, outputting zero emissions. It also offers increased levels of automation, with the machine able to be operated remotely up to 100 m away from the machine.
Many of these functions have been tested in some form on previous miningrelated assignments at Newmont’ s Cadia copper-gold operation, in New South Wales, Hillgrove Resources’ Kanmantoo copper project, in South Australia, and, most recently, the Garson mine, in Sudbury.
Cementation Americas says full-scale production at Niobec will put the MC51’ s capabilities to the test in real-world conditions. Over the length of the drift, the plan is to meet or exceed current conventional drill and blast excavation rates.
“ The work on-site will further highlight how the MC51 delivers precision cutting optimised for medium-hard rock, reducing costs and cycle times associated with overbreak,” it added.“ Equally important, this technology has the potential to drastically improve the health and safety and risk management by eliminating the need for explosives in mine development and removing people from a critical hazard zone.”
IM understands that Niobec intends to conduct additional in-mine exploration drilling and plans to develop an exploration drift of over 500 m. This exploration drift provides a perfect opportunity for Niobec to evaluate this new mining technology for integration into its mine allowing for higher speed and more efficient development of future production areas. The low abrasivity of the rock in this application – when compared with what the machine faced in Sudbury – should see development rates soar.
Based in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, Niobec has been in production since 1976. It is one of only three global producers of niobium, and the only producer located outside of Brazil.
Komatsu Mining, Cementation Americas and Niobec are planning to start up the MC51 hard-rock continuous miner in Quebec soon
On the TBM train
It is a different design of mine development machine that was referenced by Julio Diaz Rivera, VP of Mine Resources, Development and Innovation, Codelco; and Sergio Carrera Toselli, VP Wholesale, DB Support & Technology, Komatsu Latin America, in Santiago, in May, at The Electric Mine 2025.
Komatsu is developing a Mining TBM that it intends to test at Codelco’ s Chuquicamata underground mine.
The OEM and mining company are looking to validate this technology at an“ industrial level” ahead of helping develop production, sinking and ventilation sublevels at the mine, Diaz said.
Some of the specific functionalities looking to be tested out included excavating with a turning radius as tight as 15.5 m; the ability to straighten existing curves through targeted excavation; excavation through existing“ street intersections”; and the ability to backtrack safely after tunnels have been fortified through the use of rail clampers and a manual, shrinkable cutterhead.
The machine in question has a cutter head made up of disc cutters that is powered off electric motors. Behind the motors are thrust cylinders and then grippers, while a fortification station is equipped with rock drills, mesh and shotcrete. The final train that follows this part of the Mining TBM unit has transformers and is equipped with high voltage power supply.
Sandvik making progress on MX650 Gen2
Sandvik Mining continues to work with a consortium of major mining companies, through ReThink Mining, to develop the second generation of its own mechanical rock excavation machine, the MX650.
This is leveraging the experience from developing the first-generation machine, along with extensive testing and lessons learnt, Sandvik Mining says. The loading and bolting operations that are part of the mechanised process are just some of the elements under evaluation, with detailed design due to be completed by the end of 2026.
The MX650 has been optimised for 5 x 5 m tunnels, but has the capacity to work effectively in environments ranging from 4.8 x 4.8 m to 6 x 5.5 m.
The first iteration of the MX650 was put through its paces during several test programs over the past few years at WOLFRAM’ s Mittersill tungsten mine in Austria, which is owned by Sandvik Group. Boliden, LKAB and Agnico Eagle Mines
26 International Mining | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2025