An excavator manufactured by Uralmashplant (Ekaterinburg) and customised by East Mining Co has been put into operation at the Solntsevsky coal mine in Sakhalin, Russia, the miner says.

The EKG-20 excavator is designed to excavate overburden in the mine, according to East Mining, and is paired with 220-ton capacity Belaz dump trucks.

“The special feature of this excavator, as compared with the similar models, is a modified bucket capacity,” the company said, adding that the capacity was increased from standard 20 cu.m to 22 cu.m.

This is the 21st excavator to go into operation at Solntsevsky, but it is the first homemade electric excavator, East Mining said.

The company previously purchased and used electrohydraulic excavators from manufacturers in Japan and Germany, but the serial manufacturing of the EKG-20 started nearly three years ago.

“Not only it is similar in performance with foreign alternatives, but also provides a more cost-effective excavation,” the company said. “The machinery is 95% made of Russian components, equipped with a modern AC drive, information management system, detection system for assemblies and mechanisms, workflow parameters checkout system.”

Igor Kovach, the Director of Solntsevsky coal mine, said: “The excavator is wholly-electric. The use of AC drive considerably decreases machine operation expenses. Moreover, the life cycle of EKG-20 is 20 years, while the lifecycle of electrohydraulic excavators is seven years. All this has a positive impact on the corporate economics: according to our estimates, this excavator, as compared with electrohydraulic machines, allows us to reduce excavation of 1 cu.m of overburden two-to-three times.”

The excavator is 18 m tall, over 30 m wide and weighs around 750 tons (680 t). Today, is it the biggest open-mine machine in Sakhalin.

The assembly of excavation equipment was made at the coal mine by the manufacturing company representatives and local specialists.