Stevan Topalovic, Atlas Copco Construction and Mining Australia business line manager for tunnelling and mining equipment (TME), said the sale was a significant breakthrough.
“It is the first dedicated scaling unit sold here for probably 10 years or more,” he said. “There are few dedicated scaling units working in Australia. Some of them have used hammers, and ‘claws’, but all have been relatively simple and ultimately not too user friendly.”
“By having a purpose-built rig scaling is done in a much better way. It has certainly been shown in Europe to make mines safer, operations run smoother, your drift contour is better – with less shortcreting needed, and the overall cost of running the development fleet including the jumbos often used to scale is significantly reduced.”
Cadia East’s unit will also be fitted with Atlas Copco’s Tunnel Profiler and Total Station Navigation system, which will be trialled at Atlas Copco’s Kemi mine prior to delivery. Together Tunnel Profiler and Total Station Navigation reduce the mining cycle by removing the requirement for survey prior to shotcreting.
Atlas Copco’s new Scaletec MC rig is built around the manufacturer’s proven M-sized carrier, with Deutz Tier III, low-emission diesel engine, for rapid tramming and movement between development faces. The unit also has Atlas Copco’s patented boom design and “single seat concept”, allowing an operator to easily switch between scaling and tramming mode. The ergonomically designed, FOPS-approved operator cabin’s has superior visibility, while Atlas Copco has also increased machine set-up stability by integrating the front hydraulic jacks on the shovel blade. This places support in front of where the boom is attached, instead of behind.
The Scaletec MC also has Atlas Copco’s advanced Rig Control System (RCS), the same intelligent computer system as its new generation of drilling rigs.
“It is hard to talk about the scaling machine’s effect on the work cycle as it depends a lot on the number of headings and the general mine set-up,” Topalovic said.
“Use of a dedicating scaling unit has to be seen in the bigger picture.”
“It is very useful in a multi-heading operation where it can be combined with the operation of another rig in the process.”
“But by not using development jumbos for scaling the cost of drill tools can be reduced down to one-third of what it is costing some mines using the [drilling] rig to do the scaling. Rock drill cost, as well as boom running cost, can be reduced to half the typical cost of the jumbo which does scaling.”
“If we put this number into a five-year operating picture for the jumbo we are talking about a significant amount of money.”