USE OF MOBILE EQUIPMENT IN OPEN PIT LIGNITE MINES PROFEN AND ZWENKAU

摘要

MIBRAG is a lignite mining company located in former East Germany south of Leipzig which was privatized into the ownership of an Anglo-American Consortium in 1994. Bucketwheel and bucketchain excavators tied to conveyor belts have been the primary equipment used for overburden and lignite removal. In order to improve recovery and lignite quality, mobile equipment has been introduced to supplement large excavators. The primary uses to date have been the removal of a hard sandstone layer in overburden, the recovery of coal in a depression of a lower seam and the removal of interburden. The introduction of this equipment has presented challenges such as developing ways to transfer lignite from trucks to conveyor, the need for increased road construction and maintenance, the need for mobile service equipment, purchase of support equipment, managing increased traffic and modifying safety training. Mobile equipment has also provided advantages such as greater flexibility, increased responsiveness to changing conditions, increased opportunities for updating equipment, increased lignite recovery, improved lignite quality control and increased overall equipment availability.