Mining excavators are heavy machinery used in surface mining operations. Types include backhoes, bucket wheel excavators, and crawler excavators. Bucket wheel excavators remove overburden, while dragline shovels have a suspended shovel capable of excavating over 50 cubic meters.
A mining excavator is a type of heavy machinery used to excavate raw materials in mining operations, especially surface mines. Several types of excavators are commonly used in surface mining operations, including backhoes, backhoes, bucket wheel excavators, and crawler excavators. While some mining excavators may not be substantially different from the typical backhoe seen on any construction site, other machines of this type are among the largest machines ever built and are capable of excavating hundreds of cubic feet of material per hour.
A backhoe is configured like a backhoe loader used in construction and non-mining excavation projects, except that wheel tractor-type backhoe loaders are not typically used in mining operations. An autonomous cab is mounted on a body that houses the engine and other machine components. This part of the machine is mounted by means of a large swivel joint on top of a set of rails, allowing the operator to rotate the machine 360 degrees. A large articulated arm with a digging shovel, sometimes called a bucket, digs in a motion that brings the material back to the machine. Machines of this type, with the opening of the bucket facing upwards, which dig with a movement that moves the bucket away from the cab, are called excavators.
Very large surface mining operations may employ gigantic machines such as the bucket wheel mining excavator. These machines usually remove the overburden, the surface material that covers the more valuable, mineral-rich ores underneath. A large self-propelled tracked vehicle has a long boom called a boom mounted on it that ends in a large rotating wheel fitted with several buckets. As the wheel spins, the buckets dig into the ground and then dump their payloads onto a conveyor belt for transport to other vehicles for removal before the wheel spins them to dig again.
Extremely large power shovels called dragline shovels are another type of mining excavator. These massive machines have a shovel that is suspended from one arm by a series of chains or cables, which are also used to control the movement of the shovel and its digging operations. Some dragline excavators are capable of excavating more than 50 cubic meters per shovel and use so much energy that they can be connected directly to the electricity grid.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
