Sandvik Mining and Construction has successfully completed assembly of the compact bucket wheel excavator, including the beltwagon for, mining company, Mátra Kraftwerk in Hungary. After completing the detailed design and the fabrication of the main components, the assembly of the entire unit started at the beginning of November. Assembly was conducted according to a demanding schedule of only eight months, with up to some 130 erectors working on the site every day.
The first extraction level of the Bükkábrány open-pit mine trial operations commenced on schedule at the end of June with both machines beginning normal operations as early as September. The new unit will increase production capacity and raise productivity at the open-pit lignite mine.
The new bucket wheel excavator has a total weight of around 1,500 t and a 28-m boom on which the 12-m diameter bucket wheel is located. The power output of the bucket wheel alone, fitted with 16 buckets, is around 1,100 kW with the machine’s entire power output amounting to 3,200 kW. The unit is designed to generate a conveying output of around 6,700 m3 (loose) or an annual capacity of 12 million m3 (bank).
In July 2007, the Materials Handling business division of Sandvik Mining and Construction, was awarded a contract to supply these machines from Mátra Kraftwerk. Sandvik’s cooperation and excellent business relationship with the customer goes back many years. In 1986, Sandvik supplied the customer with three giant open-pit mining units, a bucket wheel excavator, a beltwagon and a spreader; these units have been operating successfully for the last 20 years.
According to Sandvik Mining and Construction, this project was of great significance to the company. Sandvik: “It has enabled the company to take another important step into the European open-pit mining sector and once again demonstrated its competence as a leading supplier of open-pit mining equipment.”