The market for boom cutter type tunnelling machines has grown significantly in the recent past. From their beginnings in the U.K. coal industry, product developments have taken boom cutter type machines into world markets for coal, other minerals extraction and the civil tunnelling industry where they have provided measurable cost and time savings to a number of different clients. Boom cutter type tunnelling machines have a niche in soft to medium rock conditions. By utilising machine mounted rock drills and drill and blast techniques they can advance through ground found to be harder than the boom cutter capability. Thorough consideration should still therefore be given to utilising boom cutter type machines even where at first sight conditions might seem outside the machine's capabilities. A number of critical factors including significant cost benefits and a high level of re-usability make machines with boom cutters the ideal choice where the ground conditions are suitable.
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