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JCL · #1 10-01-2008, 01:22 AM

Now for something completely different. I figured we had enough politics for today. I am not sure how many readers are interested in mining equipment, but mining machines have engines, lots of power, and may appeal to the various motorheads here. Lots of new technology this time around. The focus here is on Caterpillar; fans of Komatsu, Dresser, etc, will have to get their own spys to take pictures. No lawn and garden equipment (D6 and down), we're doing mining machines today.

I went to Mine Expo in Las Vegas last week. I spent most of my time in the equipment displays, looking at trucks, loaders, wheel dozers, tracked dozers, underground mining equipment, and so on. It was a good show, an incredible range of product on display, and a chance to catch up with old friends, co-workers, and customers.

Wednesday, we flew to Phoenix and on to Tucson, to the Tinaja Hills proving grounds. We attended a private demo of new and very new mining products, some of it just out and some soon to be introduced; once again, trucks, dozers, loaders, motorgraders, etc. We then got to climb all over them before heading home.

The large trucks are the most impressive: the largest is the 797F; it has a 400 ton payload capacity, 4000 hp in a direct drive configuration, and a new V20 engine that meets Tier II emissions standards. Standing start fully loaded is very impressive. Top speed of 68 km/hr. Customers are three-pass loading them with 130 tons/shovel pass. These are used in the oil sands in Alberta, and in mines in North and South America. The new 795F has a 345 ton capacity, and a proprietary AC electric drive system optimized for certain haul profiles. Cat hasn't made an electric truck since 1967, so this is about expanding market share by appealing to both camps, the mechanical drive folks and the electric drive folks. The 793F carries 240 tons and is now available in mechanical and elecric drive configurations. These are the trucks shown in the outdoor shots. The D11T dozer has a blade capacity up to 45 cubic yards, and 850 hp. The 994F wheel loader usually runs a 23 yard rock bucket, is 64 feet long, and weighs 430,000 lbs. It won't load the largest trucks shown here efficiently; we would use a cable shovel for those. The 994F is more of a utility machine on a minesite, very mobile.

Mine Expo is a bit of a toy show, but fun given that you can get with the development engineers and service folks as well as get on and under the equipment.

All shots posted here are just snapshots from a Canon SD870, as it was too hot to lug around DSLRs and lenses, and a little dusty as well. The first picture is from the show in Las Vegas, but the lighting was bad inside so the rest are from the demo at the proving grounds in Tucson. After the heavy equipment ran various scenarios, the demo included an Escape, one of the DARPA unmanned vehicles from this year's challenge. I think it came 3rd. It was programmed to mimic a load and haul cycle of a mining truck. The TV screen in front of the display shows what the unmanned vehicle is seeing and processing, while another shot of the Escape shows what happens when obstacles were randomly place in the haul road path. The DARPA vehicle saw the obstacles, and figured out how to go around them. This technology isn't in the production off-highway vehicles yet, but it is coming soon. Lowering the cost of production in mines is closely related to taking out the variability of the operators.

Hope you enjoy the shots.