BEML Limited, a Govt of India undertaking under the Ministry of Defence and the country’s leading domestic surface mining equipment manufacturer has signed an important contract with Coal India Ltd for supply of a 20 m³ electric rope shovel, a new model called the BRS-21, for deployment in the mines of Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL). The contact is valued at INR118 Crs which is over $15 million.

This shovel size is in the same class as the Komatsu P&H 2300XPC, the UZTM-KARTEX EKG-20 or the TYHI WK-20. Traditionally, the market leading rope shovel in India has been the rugged and easy to operate Komatsu P&H 1900AL (10.7 m³ capacity) that has been on the market since 1977 but as production demands increase and truck sizes are increasing beyond the traditional 100 ton class there is now a real demand for larger shovels. In 2021, Coal India signed a $195 million contract with UZTM-KARTEX covering supply, installation, and commissioning of 11 20 m³ electric rope shovels for Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL).

This new BEML BRS-21 20 m³ rope shovel has been designed and developed indigenously by BEML under ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ which translates to ‘self-reliant India.’ BEML said: “This project would not only enable the country to achieve self-reliance in this class of product but also save huge outgoing foreign exchange.”

The BRS-21 shovel is powered by all electric powertrain via cable that will not lead to any carbon footprints on the environment. It adds: “The design of this green energy machine conforms with global standards in safety, operator comfort and low maintenance. This mega equipment features advanced IGBT based AC drives integrated with predictive maintenance, production monitoring system, safety red line lighting system for the proximity of dumpers and remote monitoring.”