How are excavators used in the mining industry?
Mining machines are engineering marvels. Construction and mining equipment usually covers a variety of machinery such as hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, backhoe loaders, bulldozers, dump trucks, tippers, graders, pavers, asphalt drum/wet mix plants, off-highway dumpers, drills, scrapers, motor graders, rope shovels etc. These types of equipment are used for initiating various functions like preparation of the ground, excavation, moving of material, dumping/laying in a specified manner, material handling, road construction, etc. They are both used in construction and mining.
With a wide production capacity base, India is perhaps the only developing country, which is totally self-reliant in such highly sophisticated equipment where one of the highly used equipment is Excavators. Also known as diggers, mining excavators in India are used for earth moving to dig soil out so that it is easier to extract the materials. Different excavators are used in mining from backhoes to bucket wheel excavators to power shovels and drag line excavators. These excavators used in the mining can often excavate hundreds of cubic meters of material per hour, making mining operations faster.
How does an excavator work?
The best excavators for mining like hydraulic mining excavators use a bucket to dig and pull the material back towards the machine. They also include a self-contained cabin for the driver located on the body housing the engine and other constituents. This is allied by a large swivel joint to the track assembly, so it can rotate 360 degrees.
If we classify the huge list of various excavators in mining into two categories such as — wheeled and large excavators, the manufacturing process becomes different.
Wheeled Excavator
Wheeled excavators are true multi-taskers. They are designed to deliver the speed and power to get the job done. The Innovative technology, high lift capacity, maximum digging forces and low fuel consumption all add up to high productivity and time savings around the job site making them perfect for roads, bridges and utility work.
Large excavators
Large excavators are manufactured in such a way to offer power, speed, and fuel efficiency. This makes large hydraulic excavators exceptional choices for bulk earth-moving and heavy lifting applications. They are a reliable partner for heavy-load excavating in mining and large infrastructure construction. Customized engine, fast digging speed, low fuel consumption and auto deceleration system makes them efficient and economical.
Current Status in India
Earth moving & construction equipment (ECE) industry is a direct recipient of the accelerated pace of infrastructure development in India and is a largely organized industry. With urbanization, the city skylines are shifting to accommodate vertical growth including high rise residential complexes and commercial spaces. Apart from infrastructure and building construction, India is witnessing prompt expansion of the mining sector backed by generous reserves of coal, iron ore and other minerals. Going forward, mineral exploration is predicted to be a key agenda for the Government which would automatically trigger demand for higher capacity excavators, heavy haulage trucks and crushing equipment. The ECE sector in India is observing intense competition and localization has emerged as a key parameter with focus on tailored products adapted to the indigenous market.
