Wirtgen surface miners make the cut for civil construction

GCM has been a pioneer in implementing Wirtgen’s surface mining technology into civil construction projects in Australia.

WIRTGEN SURFACE MINERS MAKE THE CUT FOR

CIVIL CONSTRUCTION

GLOBAL CIVIL AND MINING (GCM) HAS BEEN A PIONEER IN USING WIRTGEN SURFACE MINERS IN BOTH MINING AND CIVIL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS. MANAGING DIRECTOR KANE BLACKBURN DETAILS HOW THE MACHINES HAVE BENEFITED GCM AND ITS CUSTOMERS.

For over two decades, Wirtgen surface miners have been used for applications in both mining and civil industries, from road and railway construction and maintenance to excavating for trenches, reservoirs and tunnels.

Global Civil and Mining (GCM) has been one of the pioneers in successfully implementing surface mining technology into both mining and civil construction projects in Australia. With the largest private fleet of Wirtgen surface miners in Australia, GCM has been at the forefront of developing the technology.

GCM Managing Director Kane Blackburn says using surface miners in a variety of projects, from road and rail projects to subdivisional works, quarries and mining, has brought many benefits to GCM customers.

“In Australia, traditionally surface miners have been used in mining applications to help recover material such as iron ore, coal and salt. But globally, they are also widely used in civil works operations. GCM has been a pioneer in introducing the technology, both across major mining operations in Western Australia and in civil projects throughout Australia,” he says.

“We’ve found that even though some of our customers, particularly in the civil space, are not aware of the technology initially, they often finish the project quite impressed with what the technology and the team have been able to deliver,” he adds.

One key benefit from a civil construction perspective, Blackburn says, is the ability to undertake excavation, crushing and loading activities in a single pass with just one piece of machinery, which eliminates the need for multiple pieces of plant.

Equipped with a conveyor setup, Wirtgen’s surface miners also allow material to be directly discharged from the surface miner into a truck, removing the need for more equipment and personnel on site.

“The flexible design of the Wirtgen surface miners allows us to choose between different configurations, with the option to

load the excavated material directly into a truck. This provides us with material cost and productivity savings, with obvious advantage in reduced CO2 emissions compared to the alternative process,” Blackburn explains.

On civil construction projects that are in close proximity to moving traffic or existing infrastructure, eliminating the need for drill and blast operations is another key advantage, Blackburn says.

“There are so many areas where drill and blast is not an option. Using surface miners has allowed us to carry out many complex road and rail operations over the years, without the risk, noise and dust associated with drill and blast.”

A POWERFUL DESIGN The centrally mounted cutting drum of Wirtgen’s surface miners is another advantage for the GCM team, helping them slice through hard rock with great efficiency. Having a centrally mounting cutting drum means that the weight and forward motion of the machines provide the highest cutting forces available in the industry. This is critical for productivity and cutting accuracy.

In Wirtgen surface miners, the centralised drum concept is combined with a pulley or belt drive system that possesses superior power transmission over hydraulic or chain drive machines. Together, these two primary attributes permit maximum performance in soft to hard rock applications.

For the GCM team, having GPS technology integrated with their Wirtgen surface miners also means greater accuracy in cutting road and rail profiles to the desired level, Blackburn says.

“With surface miners, final levels can be directly achieved at cutting depths up to 650 millimetres without any need for further trimming. This ensures we are not moving too much material around, which in turn increases efficiency,” he says.

Whilst the Wirtgen surface miners used in Australia were first and foremost intended for mining, their design features have also supported their subsequent deployment in civil construction applications.

The overall machine profile, their tight turning radii and their ease of operation and maintenance has meant they have been easy to integrate in the construction world. Features such as full lock and tag out stations, walk-in machinery bays, full 12-hour shift operator stations and the ability to do all of the services from ground or safe stands have added a productive and cost-effective option to civil contractors.

HIGHER EFFICIENCIES Whilst it depends on the type of material being cut, the excavated material produced by a Wirtgen surface miner can often be directly used as a fill or aggregate material for use on other areas of the site.

Blackburn says GCM has been using the excavated material from surface miners as the base or sub-base course on other road projects, which also eliminates the need for re-processing the material.

An example of this was on the Albany Highway upgrade project in Western Australia, where GCM mobilised a Wirtgen 2200 Surface Miner (2200SM) to progressively lower the crest of the existing highway, directly adjacent to the open highway, in layers of 300 millimetres. This enabled the work to be carried out with minimal disruption to traffic.

In addition, the 2200SM was able to selectively separate spoil material from material that was suitable for use in the pavement layers in the widening areas. This resulted in significant cost saving to Main Roads Western Australia as the project owner, due to a large reduction in haulage costs.

GCM is also currently engaged on projects with the Western Australian road authority to provide locally sourced aggregates for construction in remote areas. Blackburn says by using the surface miner technology, aggregates of the desired size are produced directly on site, eliminating the need for long haulage.

A SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIP In its fleet, GCM currently owns a variety of Wirtgen surface miners, from the 100-tonne capacity 2500SM model, right through to the 200-tonne 4200SM surface miner.

Wirtgen will soon be releasing its next generation 280SM and 260SX surface miners in Australia – both of which are specifically tailored for civil applications.

Blackburn says GCM cannot wait to check out the new models.

“We have had all of Wirtgen’s surface miner models in our fleet at some stage. With Wirtgen recently releasing information about their new generation of surface miners, we are keen to work with Wirtgen to bring those machines into Australia as well. With Wirtgen’s worldwide experience, we are confident they will bring great design ideas to the product,” he says.

Stuart Torpy, Managing Director, Wirtgen Australia, says like all Wirtgen Group products, the surface mining range is fully supported across the full spectrum of customer tailored needs.

“Wirtgen’s support includes anything from supply of parts to ground-up operator familiarisation, competency attainment and machine support for every hour the machine is in service,” Torpy says.

“Like all Wirtgen Group customers, Wirtgen continue to support GCM in using their Wirtgen machines to succeed. Wirtgen and GCM have been working together for over 15 years and we continue to identify new ways to put Wirtgen surface miners to productive and profitable use,” he adds.

Using Wirtgen’s surface miners, GCM can re-use the excavated material on other road projects.