wirtgen surface miners in operation around the globe...

Wirtgen Surface Miners in Operation Around the Globe

Effi cient Mining of Rock and Professional Customer Service

Surface mining – an internationally established method for rock mining

BRAZIL› Limestone 2 SM› Bauxite 3 SM

COSTA RICA› Limestone 3 SM

FRENCH GUYANA› Limestone 1 SM

BOLIVIA› Salt 2 SM

MEXICO› Limestone 2 SM› Gypsum 1 SM › Salt 2 SM

CANADA› Limestone 1 SM› Kimberlite 2 SM

USA› Limestone 16 SM › Coal 1 SM › Gypsum 19 SM › Dolomite 1 SM

SENEGAL› Limestone 2 SM

LIBYA› Limestone 11 SM

MOROCCO› Phosphate 1 SM

GUINEA› Bauxite 9 SM

ALGERIA› Limestone 7 SM › Phosphate 1 SM

EUROPE› Limestone 32 SM› Oil shale 3 SM› Salt 19 SF› Pegmatite 1 SM› Gypsum 1 SM › Coal 4 SM› Tuff 1 SM

DOM. REPUBLIC› Limestone 3 SM

CHILE› Caliche 1 SM› Salt 2 SM

SURFACE MINERAPPLICATION BY ROCK TYPE

101Coal

169Limestone

52Iron Ore

30Gypsum

30Salt

12 6 5 4 13

OtherBauxite

KimberlitePhosphate

Granite

2 //3

UZBEKISTAN› Phosphate 3 SM › Gypsum 2 SM

CHINA› Limestone 1 SM › Caliche 1 SM › Coal 3 SM

LIBYA› Limestone 11 SM

IRAN› Gypsum 3 SM

ISRAEL› Phosphate 1 SM

LEBANON› Limestone 1 SM

EGYPT› Gypsum 1 SM

NIGERIA› Limestone 7 SM

SOUTH AFRICA› Kimberlite 1 SM › Limestone 1 SM › Coal 1 SM › Gypsum 3 SM

SAUDI ARABIA› Limestone 2 SM› Phosphate 1 SM

YEMEN› Limestone 1 SM

THAILAND› Shale 2 SM

BOTSWANA› Clay stone 1 SM › Salt 1 SM

JAPAN› Limestone 2 SM › Granite 5 SM

INDONESIA› Limestone 3 SM › Coal 6 SM

QATAR› Limestone 6 SM

AUSTRALIA› Limestone 1 SM › Tuff 1 SM › Salt 3 SM › Iron ore 52 SM › Coal 5 SM

INDIA› Limestone 39 SM › Coal 75 SM

RUSSIA› Limestone 19 SM› Kimberlite 1 SM› Coal 3 SM› Salt 1 SM

MONGOLIA› Coal 1 SM

UKRAINE› Limestone 3 SM

KAZAKHSTAN› Limestone 2 SM› Coal 2 SM

PHILIPPINES› Limestone 1 SM

In recent years, the fleet of surface miners owned by

Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), one of the world’s

largest producers of iron ore, has grown to a total of 28

Wirtgen 4200 SM. They are the recipe of success for the

economical and selective mining of high-quality iron ore

in the Pilbara region in Western Australia. “The Wirtgen

surface miners allow us to separate the iron ore from the

overburden. The bulk of the iron ore deposit could not

be mined using conventional methods, which is why the

surface miners are a key element of our success,” says

Cody Faryna, Surface Mining Manager at FMG’s Christ-

mas Creek mine site.

Surface mining entails substantial cost savings

Surface mining contrasts strongly with conventional drill-

ing and blasting methods: surface miners from Wirtgen

cut, crush and load the material in a single operational

step, creating huge potential savings. For example, the

production costs per tonne of iron ore are reduced by

around 40 %, and investment costs are also about 50 %

lower than with the conventional mining method.

As many as twenty-eight Wirtgen 4200 SM surface miners are mining iron ore in Down Under.

Project details Mining material: iron ore (ultra-abrasive) Unconfined compressive strength: 60 MPa Surface miner type: Wirtgen 4200 SM Number of machines in operation: 28 Production rate of one 4200 SM per day: up to 63,000 t

Australia: mining iron ore on a grand scale

4 //5

4200 SM – top performance made to measure

“It is admirable how Wirtgen has succeeded in imple-

menting such a high cutting rate right from the start in

their first large-scale project in iron ore,” says Graeme

Rowley, Executive Director at FMG until March 2010.

The extremely powerful 4200 SM – a surface miner that

weighs over 200 t and offers a tremendous engine power

of 1,194 kW / 1,623 PS – is a joint development by Wirt-

gen and FMG. In iron ore mining, it has a cutting width

of 4,200 mm and a cutting depth ranging from 650 mm

to 830 mm. Depending on rock hardness, each 4200 SM

is capable of producing up to 3,800 t per hour of iron

ore. The high-performance machine achieves production

rates that are twice as high as those of the 2500 SM

which was successfully used by FMG at the beginning

of the mining operation.

Load as required

The iron ore deposits at the FMG mine are of a partly

homogeneous, partly inhomogeneous nature. However,

the 4200 SM offers the perfect mining method for both

types of material. Homogeneous iron ore of consistently

high quality is loaded directly on waiting dumpers via the

miner’s high-performance conveyor system. This method

offers the major advantage that mining and loading are

effected economically in a single operation. Inhomoge-

neous material is windrowed between the 4200 SM’s

track units after mining without using the machine’s

conveyor system, making it easier to identify and differ-

entiate its quality. Further advantages include optimized

transport logistics and better control of the material flow

at FMG. Wirtgen is the only manufacturer worldwide

offering both methods.

The ultra-strong 4200 SM deposits inhomogeneous iron ore as a windrow between the track units.

FMG uses the Wirtgen surface miners as their principal mining equipment, operating them on a 24/7 basis.

Russia: mining limestone without drilling and blasting

At the ZAO Kavkazcement mine site, cement produc-

er Eurocement has relied on mechanized mining by

means of surface miners since 2005. The impressive

mining performance of the first two 2200 SM machines

prompted Eurocement in 2008 to order the next bigger

surface miner model, the 2500 SM. Decisive factors for

Eurocement were the surface miners’ ability to mine the

specified tonnage at high productivity levels and low

operating costs and to reliably crush the material within

the specified grading range. In addition, they needed

to perfectly fit into the existing mine structures. Three

2500 SM are currently in operation at the mine.

One of the major advantages of surface mining over

drilling and blasting is that the material can be direct-

ly loaded on trucks via a high-performance conveyor

system. Eurocement also uses other loading methods,

however, if required. If an embankment needs to be

stabilized, for example, the surface miners discharge the

required limestone material to the side of the machine

for stockpiling. This offers the additional advantage of

the cutting process being entirely independent of truck

loading.

Project details Mining material: limestone Unconfined compressive strength: 35 to 70 MPa Surface miner type: Wirtgen 2500 SM Number of machines in operation: 3 Production rate of one 2500 SM per hour: 515 to 580 t

Surface mining produces accurate, stable embankments and even, easily trafficable surfaces.

6 //7

India: long-standing partnership ensures efficient coal mining

have therefore begun in 1999 to reorganize coal produc-

tion from drilling and blasting to Wirtgen surface miners.

Currently, 80 % of the coal is mined using the surface

mining process while the remaining 20 % is mined using

conventional methods.

At the Gevra mine site, windrowing has proven to be the

ideal mining method as it facilitates identification of the

material quality and is the most economical method of

coal production. When using the windrowing method,

the coal is deposited as a windrow between the miner’s

rear track units without using the conveyor system.

This makes the cutting process entirely independent

of truck loading but requires the coal to be loaded

separately at a later date using front loaders.India is the world’s third-largest producer of hard coal.

Sainik Mining and Allied Services Ltd. is a contracting

partner of Coal India, the country’s largest coal producer,

and owns 21 Wirtgen surface miners. As many as ten

2200 SM machines are in operation at the Gevra mine

site which extends over a total area of 530 km² in the

state of Chhattisgarh. The vertical coal seams at the

Gevra mine site need to be exploited by selective min-

ing. In addition, 90 % of the coal must have a maximum

particle size after cutting of 100 mm. The mine operators

Windrowing enables coal of marginal quality to be identified and removed more easily.

Project details Mining material: coal Unconfined compressive strength: 30 to 35 MPa Surface miner type: Wirtgen 2200 SM Number of machines in operation: 10 Production rate of one 2200 SM per day: 15,000 t

USA: highly selective mining of thin lignite layersThe Red Hills Mine (USA) delivers 77,000 tonnes per

week of lignite to a neighbouring power plant. In April

2010, an older model was replaced by an ultra-modern

4200 SM. The surface miner’s significantly higher cutting

and loading performance enabled the mine operators to

tremendously increase productivity levels while at the

same time reducing the fines content in the mining mate-

rial. Whereas around eight 12-hour shifts had previously

been necessary to mine the quantity of coal required

by the power plant, the high-performance miner from

Wirtgen achieved the same production rate in only six to

seven shifts.

The lignite deposit is present in the mine in layers of only

0.79 m to 1.37 m in thickness. The small thickness of

the individual layers poses no problem at all, however,

to the 4200 SM: its precisely adjustable cutting depth

enables the machine to remove the lignite with pinpoint

accuracy, at the highest purity and at production rates

of up to 2,800 t per hour. High calorific values and low

ash contents are guaranteed. The 4200 SM can even be

used to efficiently remove the 10-m thick intermediate

layers of sandy loam.

Compared with the predecessor model, the 4200 SM from Wirtgen enabled the fines content to be reduced from 20% to 8%.

Project details Mining material: ligniteUnconfined compressive strength: 15 MPa Surface miner type: Wirtgen 4200 SM Number of machines in operation: 1 Production rate per hour: up to 2,800 t

8 //9

China: environmentally friendly coal mining

The Shengli Mine, which extends over a total area of

340 km², has become a reference project in China for

the environmentally friendly mining of coal. The lowest

coal seam comprises layers of variable coal quality.

Since 2009, a 2200 SM equipped with a 3.8 m wide

cutting drum unit has been mining these layers selec-

tively at cutting depths of up to 25 cm. In actual figures,

the 2200 SM cuts up to 5,000 tonnes of coal in a single

8-hour shift.

The 2200 SM produces small-sized material – 97 % of

the mining material has a particle size smaller 100 mm.

The smaller particle size enables the trucks to accept

10% more coal per truck load. At the Shenhua Mine,

for example, conventional mining methods require

526,000 truck transports per 10 million tonnes of coal.

If the entire coal production were reorganized to

surface mining, the number of truck transports could

be reduced to 500,000. Fewer trucks, less fuel and

less maintenance are required for the same production

volume. The 2200 SM gives an impressive demonstra-

tion of how high-quality material can be mined without

the huge environmental impacts caused by drilling and

blasting.

Selective mining ensures a high degree of purity of the material deposited using the windrowing method.

Project details Mining material: coalUnconfined compressive strength: 15 MPa Surface miner type: Wirtgen 2200 SM Number of machines in operation: 1 Production rate per day: up to 5,000 t

Estonia: selective mining of high-quality oil shale

Kiviöli Keemiatööstuse (Kiviöli) and Eesti Energia Mining,

Estonia’s leading oil shale producers, rely on the use of

surface miners from Wirtgen. These machines have given

priority to the economic efficiency of the mining process.

Four deposits are currently operated as opencast mines,

generating approximately 50 % of the country’s entire pro-

duction. In the Kiviöli mine, which extends across an area

of around 2.44 ha, a Wirtgen surface miner 2500 SM has

been in operation since 2003.

The mining material can be deposited as a windrow

either behind or next to the surface miner. Alternatively,

it is directly loaded on trucks for immediate removal.

Selective mining using surface miners enables each layer

to be removed in a separate operation. The yield of oil

shale per square metre is increased, while the material

quality is improved at the same time. In contrast to drilling

and blasting, surface mining enables oil shale of high

quality to be mined in a selective process using a single

machine. The high quality of the mining product makes

it suitable for both oil production and energy generation.

Selective mining additionally enables the limestone de-

posits surrounding the oil shale to be sold as a separate

end product.

Project details Mining material: oil shale Unconfined compressive strength: 15 MPa Surface miner type: Wirtgen 2500 SM Number of machines in operation: 3 Production rate of one 2500 SM per hour: up to 1,400 t

Drilling and blasting leads to a significant degree of mixing between oil shale and limestone – the 2500 SM mines both in a selective process.

10 //11

Mexico: rich salt harvest

The 2200 SM is equipped with a 3.8 m wide cutting drum unit and deposits the salt in a windrow, ready for loading.

Exportadora del Sal S.A. (ESSA) operates huge sea water

salt evaporation ponds not far from the city of Guerrero

Negro in Western Mexico. The salt level “grows” by about

20 cm over the course of one year. The resulting salt crust

needs to be harvested with great precision to allow for

a maximum salt yield, create an even and clean surface

and avoid damage to the newly forming salt crust. The

2200 SM, which has been designed with a maximum

cutting depth of 25 cm, a cutting width of 3.8 m and an

engine output of 708 kW / 963 PS, is perfectly tailored to

meet this challenge. The cutting drum is mounted close

to the machine’s centre of gravity to guarantee maximum

cutting performance. It produces even, stable surfaces

that are ideally suited to the use of trucks. The four track

units can be adjusted in height separately via hydraulic

cylinders to allow accurate setting of both cutting depth

and cross slope. Field operation quickly showed that the

machine is utilized to optimum capacity when operating

at an average cutting depth of 20 cm and working speed

of 15 to 20 m / min. Since 2012, the 2200 SM has been

setting new standards in ESSA’s salt mine. The fines

content of the mining material precisely meets custom-

er specifications – and the machine’s performance is

quite impressive, too: the 2200 SM harvests an average

895 t / h of salt at diesel consumption rates of only 106 l / h

or 0.12 l / t respectively. As a result, nothing stands in the

way of a profitable salt harvest.

Project details Mining material: salt Unconfined compressive strength: 10 MPa Surface miner type: Wirtgen 2200 SM Number of machines in operation: 1 Production rate per hour: 895 t

USA: mining gypsum in small sizes

Mining gypsum by cutting has been an established

process in the USA for several decades. Wirtgen sur-

face miners are in continuous operation in most gypsum

quarries in the southern United States, mining gypsum

in a selective process – 16 miners of type 2200 SM

altogether, each with a working width of 2.2 m.

The material is mined at particle sizes smaller 150 mm

– the small-sized product ensures easy processing in

the nearby production facilities. The gypsum mined in a

selective process is windrowed behind the machine and

then loaded on waiting trucks by means of front loaders.

Even surfaces created by the Wirtgen surface miners

facilitate the use of transport vehicles. The surface

miners also create precise, stable highwalls without the

need for drilling and blasting. Anhydrite, a signifi cantly

harder (70 MPa) type of rock, is mined here in addition to

gypsum which has an unconfi ned compressive strength

of only 30 MPa. No problem at all for the 2200 SM: the

surface miner is capable of mining the different materials

selectively without having to interrupt operation or alter

the cutting depth.

Selective mining produces a high yield of gypsum of high purity in a resource-effi cient process.

Project details Mining material: gypsumUnconfi ned compressive strength: 30 MPaSurface miner type: Wirtgen 2200 SMNumber of machines in operation: 16Production rate of one 2200 SM per hour: 250 t

12 //13

In an opencast mine in the north of Saudi Arabia, a

2500 SM surface miner equipped with a 2.5-m wide cutting

drum has been mining large phosphate deposits in a highly

economical process since 2012. In addition to the primary

extraction of relatively soft phosphate with an unconfi ned

compressive strength of 25 MPa, the 2500 SM also mines

the surrounding hard limestone (80 MPa) and extremely

hard fl int (150 MPa) selectively in separate layers. In this

project, the surface mining technology can demonstrate its

full potential: cutting, crushing and loading the material in a

single operational step is much more effi cient than conven-

tional drilling and blasting. This has a direct impact in terms

of signifi cantly lower labour, machine and operating costs.

In addition, mining proceeds without any detonations and

at lower dust emission levels. Phosphate, limestone and

fl int are mined in a selective process, increasing the yield

quota of the entire deposit. The 2500 SM extracts minerals

of different hardness without any breaks in operation. In

addition, it precisely separates the different material layers,

thus improving both the degree of purity and the quality of

the end product. In the process, the 2500 SM produces

particle sizes smaller 80 mm which eliminates the need for

complex primary crushing.

Project details Mining material: phosphateUnconfi ned compressive strength: 25 MPaSurface miner type: Wirtgen 2500 SMNumber of machines in operation: 1Production rate per hour: 800 t

After cutting, the material is directly loaded on trucks via the discharge conveyor for transport to further processing.

Saudi Arabia: economical mining of phosphate deposits

Brazil: intelligent technology and logistics for efficient bauxite mining

Three Wirtgen 2500 SM surface miners have been in

operation at the Mineração Paragominas mine in the far

north of Brazil since March 2011, revolutionizing bauxite

mining.

Featuring a cutting width of 2.5 m and cutting depth of

up to 650 mm, each 2500 SM mines up to 7,500,000

tonnes of bauxite per year. The 100-tonne machine is

driven by a 783-kW / 1,065-PS engine. The material is

loaded on trucks via the 11.0-m long discharge convey-

or – thus dispensing with the need for additional mining

equipment such as excavators or wheel loaders. “The

2500 SM achieves production rates equal to those of

two or three conventional mining sets,“ says Cláudio

Morgado, Maintenance Manager at Mineração Parago-

minas. “This not only reduces production costs but also

makes work in the mine much safer.” The surface mining

process not only saves time and costs, however, but

reduces energy consumption as well. In addition, it is an

environmentally friendly process. Vibration-free operation

and the low levels of noise and dust developing during

the mining operation are yet another mark in favour

when compared to conventional methods.

Each of the three 2500 SM surface miners is a powerhouse extract-ing around 800 tonnes of bauxite per hour.

Project details Mining material: bauxiteUnconfined compressive strength: up to 50 MPa Surface miner type: Wirtgen 2500 SM Number of machines in operation: 3 Production rate of one 2500 SM per hour: 800 t

14 //15

Qatar: routing operations for the construction of a port facility

Instead of drilling and blasting, CHCC chose the innovative Wirtgen surface mining technology.

Project details Mining material: hard rock Unconfined compressive strength: 35 to 40 MPa Surface miner type: Wirtgen 2500 SM Number of machines in operation: 3 Production rate of one 2500 SM per hour: 400 t

A total of 50 million m³ of mostly hard rock needed to be

removed for construction of the new, ultra-modern deep-

water seaport in Doha (Qatar). The project was awarded

to China Harbour Construction Co. (CHCC). The Chinese

contractor had originally planned to complete the job in a

conventional manner using drilling and blasting.

The Wirtgen team – consisting of the local dealer in Qatar,

the subsidiary based in China and the responsible Area

Sales Manager based in Germany – succeeded in con-

vincing CHCC that surface mining was the ideal method

for this project due to the economical and ecological

advantages it offered. In June 2012, CHCC purchased

a Wirtgen 2500 SM surface miner with a cutting width

of 2.5 m. The miner’s excellent cutting results and the

premium-class after-sales service offered by Wirtgen fully

convinced CHCC so that two additional 2500 SM ma-

chines reported for duty in Qatar in June 2013.

Working closely together, Wirtgen and its local dealers

have since ensured the consistently high operational avail-

ability of the surface miners and thus optimum planning

security for CHCC. In short: the three 2500 SM surface

miners from Wirtgen are the keys to success in this

multinational large-scale project.

Country / application: Japan / routing operations

Mining material: granite

Unconfined compressive strength: 140 to 260 MPa

Surface miner type: Wirtgen 2500 SM

Number of machines: 4

Production rate: 20 to 200 t / h

Country / application: Libya / routing operations

Mining material: limestone

Unconfined compressive strength: 40 MPa



Production rate: 400 t / h

Country / application: Germany / routing operations

Mining material: shale





Country / application: Austria / quarry

Mining material: dolomite





Wirtgen surface mining – other international reference projects

16 //17

Country / application: Canada / opencast mine

Mining material: kimberlite





Country / application: Russia / recultivation

Mining material: sand (frozen)





Country / application: Nigeria / opencast mining

Mining material: limestone





Country / application: Guinea / opencast mining

Mining material: bauxite





Customized service concepts ensure 24 / 7 operation

Surface miners are used as the principal mining tech-

nology and are typically operated on a 24-hour basis.

Maximum machine availability is therefore an important

criterion for success. In addition to the surface mining

technology, Wirtgen offers an extensive range of services

presenting the company as a reliable partner.

To guarantee machine availability, Wirtgen offers a

unique customer-specific service for large-scale pro-

jects: in close cooperation between the German main

plant and the Wirtgen Group’s local subsidiary, Wirtgen

sets up additional service facilities in the immediate

vicinity of the customer’s site. Service centres ensure the

professional repair or overhaul of surface miners while

enabling a comprehensive parts inventory to be stocked

at the same time. Needless to say that, as part of the

efficient service concept, highly qualified Wirtgen Group

specialist staff is present at the service centre and in the

mine all the time to ensure optimal machine support.

Maintaining communication with and proximity to our

customers guarantee short response times. New require-

ments, process modifications or machine developments

can therefore be implemented at short notice – both on

the mine site and at the plant.

Spare parts required for daily use, for long-term use and

for regular maintenance on site can be stocked at the

service centre. In addition to the repair or overhaul of

single components, Wirtgen’s service offer also includes

the complex refurbishment of entire plants or the general

overhaul of surface miners. Vital components, such as

engines or gearboxes, are always kept in stock at the

German main plant to ensure prompt delivery. To guar-

antee optimal machine utilization, Wirtgen additionally

offers a broad, ongoing training programme at the mine,

the service centre or the German main plant.

18 //19

Service technicians are trained at the Wirtgen main plant in Germany on a regular basis.

Logistics centres ensure that all required spare parts are stocked in the immediate vicinity of the customer’s site.

Cutting drums and conveyor systems are overhauled professionally in our own workshops on site.

Wirtgen service technicians, application specialists and warehouse staff guarantee smooth, reliable operation of the machines.

Illustrations and texts are non-binding and may include customized fi ttings. Subject to technical changes. Performance data depend on operational conditions. No. 2321784 43-31 EN-10/13 © by Wirtgen GmbH 2013. Printed in Germany

Wirtgen GmbHReinhard-Wirtgen-Str. 2 · 53578 Windhagen · GermanyPhone: +49 (0) 26 45 / 131-0 · Fax: +49 (0) 26 45 / 131-392Internet: www.wirtgen.com · E-Mail: [email protected]

wirtgen surface miners in operation around the globe...

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