Towering over almost every coal mining pit in Australia is a goliath of mining equipment – the walking dragline excavator.
They are one of the primary excavating machines used in open-cut operations throughout the Bowen Basin in Queensland and the Hunter region in New South Wales.
Open-cut mining is one of the most common methods of coal resource extraction in Australia and is carried out when the coal is close enough to the surface for the overburden to be economically removed by a dragline instead of using underground mining techniques.
According to Rod Baker, Motion Australia’s business development manager for mining in Queensland, a lot of engineering thought goes into the design improvement of draglines to optimise their performance in harsh operating conditions.
Some of these machines are up to 50 years of age and can be kept into service due to modern day engineering and technology improvements.
“These are some of the largest mobile mining machines on the planet,” Baker said.
“While some heavy machinery like this will run on a track and roller system, draglines ‘walk’ and have a large-capacity bucket which is driven by wire ropes and electric motors. It drags back the earth to expose the coal, making it easier for miners to come in and extract it.”
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