Tag Archives: LF-14

GHH launches new 10-loader, the LF-10 NEO

Automation, Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, , , , , , , , ,

Mining and tunnelling equipment manufacturer GHH has unveiled a new load haul dumper (LHD), the LF-10 NEO, offering, it says, the highest tipping height in its class.

This 10-t-payload loader is a powerful and compact machine and an improved version of the LF-10, already a well-established product in its class, the company said. It is the latest in a line of new GHH loaders that includes the LF-14, the LF-7 and the LF-8.

The LF-10 NEO has a z-link design and a maximum tipping height of 2.5 m. This makes it an ideal partner for loading all 30-t-payload trucks on the market, according to GHH.

“The high breakout forces, efficient boom and bucket motion times, as well as the strong power to weight ratio, makes the LF-10 NEO one of the best in class,” Ingo Rath, Product Line Manager Loaders at GHH in Germany, said.

With a length of 9.6 m and width of 2.6 m, the LF-10 NEO is compact and versatile for excellent manoeuvrability in mid-seam underground mining environments, according to GHH.

The standard bucket aboard the LF-10 NEO holds 4.6 cu.m, making loading and unloading easier and more cost effective.

With an operating weight of around 28 t, the loader manages speeds of up to 32 km/h with four-speed transmission and gradients up to 25%. It is able to tip the 10-t payload in just 2.6 seconds, GHH says.

“GHH installs the water-cooled Mercedes OM936 diesel engine with 240 kW, which is the best in the 10-t loader-size class,” Rath says. “The large fuel tank also allows for full shift operation with no worry for refuelling mid shift and losing valuable production time.”

Exhaust gas emissions comply with US EPA Tier 3 or EU Stage IIIA on the standard machine, while EU Stage V is also optional. The low fuel consumption, ease of maintainability and robust design as well as durability and reliability of the product all add to the low operating costs, the company said.

The LF-10 NEO has an operator compartment that boasts excellent ergonomics, GHH says. This is evident in the way the controls have been laid out and the general arrangement within the cabin. There is also a large footbox within the cab, providing the operator with significantly more space and comfort. The cab also offers improved visibility compared with other loaders in the class.

It comes as standard with useful safety and maintainability features such as the Proximity Detection System (PDS) interface, which allows the integration of third-party equipment. There are also optional wear sensors fitted on the brakes.

“Like other GHH vehicles, the articulated LF-10 NEO is designed for underground hard-rock mining and can be ordered with many options,” GHH said.

It also seamlessly integrates with the GHH inSiTE electronic monitoring and digital analytics system, which provides insight into the machine performance and maintenance requirements, all tailored to the specific needs of customers.

GHH concluded: “The NEO joins the company’s mid-range segment of LHD offering, which is one of the most comprehensive on the market: the range of 18 diesel and electric models with payloads from one to 21 tonnes is a weighty factor in choosing the perfect loader. And, by the way, the Germans have the same great selection in dump trucks to complement.”

GHH India’s contract mining arm wins plaudits for work with Hindustan Zinc

Base metals, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

GHH India’s recently established contract mining arm, GHH Bumi Mining Service, has notched up its first significant award, being recognised by Vedanta Group/Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) for the work it is doing at the Zawar Mala zinc-lead underground mine in Rajasthan, India.

In a recent online event, GHH Bumi Mining Service, established late last year, was named as the recipient of the Best Performing Business Partner by the companies.

The award winner was chosen out of all business partners and recognised a job well done, GHH said.

Over the last six months, GHH Bumi has been carrying out contract mining at Zawar Mala, and was presented the award, GHH says, based on excellent performance involving all contract mining activities, including those related to safety, production and asset optimisation.

Since January, GHH BUMI has been responsible for production and mine development with more than 350 employees at Zawar Mala. For this purpose, the company has access to more than 20 LHDs, dump trucks and drilling rigs from the GHH Group.

Dr Jan Petzold, CEO of GHH Group, said: “With this award, we as GHH Group see ourselves confirmed in our efforts as a reliable business partner for HZL – a cooperation that started almost four years ago with the supply of mining machinery and has resulted in being awarded as mining contractor and OEM.

“This is a special incentive to be able to conclude the second mine developer and operator contract with HZL, which is currently in preparation.”

The latest generation of GHH mining equipment, with its new dump truck MK-42, LF-14 and LF-10 LHDs as well as two FM 2.3 boom drill rigs from GHH group company, Mine Master, are on their way to India and are expected to be on site beginning of August, GHH said.

GHH says GHH Bumi is also currently working on preparing for the expansion of the Mochia Balaria Decline project, where a rapid development proposal is under way.

K+S shifts digital analytics gears after trials provide InSiTE

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A more than three-month trial of GHH’s inSiTE digital analytics solution on a 14-t-payload LF-14 LHD has convinced potash and salt miner, K+S, to complete a rollout of the platform across multiple mine sites.

GHH inSiTE, powered by talpasolutions, can distil complicated and seemingly random information into powerful tools for analysis, according to GHH, with the manufacturer promising the integration into daily operations leads to continuously improved productivity.

In one of the first applications of GHH inSiTE in an operation in the CIS region, the customer achieved decreased downtime, increased utilisation, a 7% reduction in fuel consumption, the identification of inefficiencies in cycle time, and a 12% boost in overall equipment efficiency, according to the company.

K+S was looking to put the promises of GHH to the test and initially agreed on a technical pilot.

This technical pilot and the promising opportunities regarding data analysis and visualisation must have been convincing because, in July, K+S signed up for a commercial deployment of GHH inSiTE. This will see GHH inSiTE used on 150 machines across its mine sites.

Andreas Walczyk, Program Manager, Digital Transformation, at K+S, told attendees of The 2nd International Conference on High-Performance Mining that the trial was a chance for the company to not only gather machine data, but also leverage it to make improvements to its maintenance, production and training processes.

“The main reason for this pilot was to figure out if we were on the right path regarding data logging, network, WLAN and more,” he said. “The answer is yes; the pilot was and is very successful because all of our expectations were met.”

The company came away with around 3,500 operating hours and 27 GB of data to play with and analyse.

It acquired this by connecting to the on-board CAN BUS and engine control systems on the LF-14, logging the machine data over that three-month period, creating a “data buffer” at each site, displaying said data on customisable dashboards, and connecting it all through a cloud-based WLAN system.

K+S has already started the rollout of GHH inSiTE across its operations, with Walczyk keen to see how the machine-to-machine connection can allow loaders to, for example, pick up data from scalers to further improve the operations’ data analytics.

Dr Jan Petzold, GHH Group CEO, says the GHH inSiTE system does not discriminate between mobile or fixed machinery, with operators and supervisors able to customise their dashboards to monitor the data and key performance indicators most important to them.

“Owning data is not good enough, you need to know what to do with the data,” he said. “There is now a tool available to help you improve your maintenance intervals, your mean times between failures, and you have the chance to store this data for review afterwards. We also enable our customers to integrate the data in existing workflows to take better actions based on actionable insights.”

Following the rollout of GHH inSiTE across the 150 machines at multiple operating sites, Walczyk says K+S will then look to integrate the solution into its SAP system.

Also included on the K+S roadmap is a plan to leverage GHH inSiTE for a move into the predictive maintenance arena at its sites, using the platform for spare parts and resource inventory management, performance benchmarking and innovations for targeted product development.