Largest Mining Shovel in the World

The various methods of mining a coal seam can be categorized under two headings, surface mining, and underground mining. Surface and underground coal mining are broad activities that incorporate numerous variations in equipment and methods, and the choice of which method to use to extract a seam of coal depends on many technological, economic, and social factors. Technological factors include, as a minimum, the number of seams, the thickness, and steepness of each seam, the nature and thickness of the strata overlying the seams, the quality of the coal seams, the surface topography, the surface characteristics, and transport networks. The bucket wheel excavator is a continuous surface excavation machine capable of removing up to 12,000 cubic meters per hour. The most favorable soil and strata conditions for the operation of this powerful machine are unconsolidated and soft overloaded materials without large boulders. The bucket wheel is widely used in the extraction of coal and other minerals.