By Paul Moore

November 19, 2019 - It’s been a long wait but the latest ultraclass mining rope shovel is finally here. The Komatsu P&H 4800XPC machine is now up and running at Teck Resources’ Fording River coking coal mine in British Columbia. Back in July 2019 the first parts started to arrive in Sparwood, British Columbia which is also where Komatsu is now building a brand-new facility to support the growth of its mining business in Western Canada, including this new record shovel. Komatsu is investing $40 million to construct an 85,000 square-foot sales and service facility in downtown Sparwood, where the company already has been operating for more than 30 years. The new facility is set to open by the end of 2020.

With a nominal 122.5 t (135 short tons) payload the 4800XPC can three pass load a 363 t class truck (which includes a fleet of Komatsu 980Es at Fording River) and is up there in terms of jostling for the title of the largest shovel in the world, though the WK-75 from China’s TYHI which is still operating at Inner Mongolia Datang Xilinhaote Mining has a listed payload of 135 t (metric) so it is a close race. Richard Whittington, General Manager at Teck Resources Fording River said on a LinkedIn post: “An industry first. Ultra class productivity. Innovation through partnership. Fording River’s new 4800XPC shovel.” It has a nominal dipper capacity of 65.7 to 70.3 m3 and Whittington says is capable of 3,600 bcm/operating hour.

Komatsu has previously also had this to say about the machine: “The 4800XPC electric rope shovel, featuring Adaptive Controls technology, is specifically designed for three-pass loading of 400 short ton (360 t) ultra-class haul trucks. The 4800XPC, when compared to the 4100XPC, offers up to 20% increase in production and up to 10% decrease in cost per ton.” It has a direct-drive crowd with integral fleeting sheave to help eliminate boom jacking and an optimised boom design for improved maintenance access. A full suite of service products and consumables are available, including wire rope, GET, crawler shoes and more while mechanical upgrades, repair and rebuild services are available worldwide.

Fording River Operations is located approximately 29 km northeast of the community of Elkford, in southeastern British Columbia. It is one of Teck’s five steelmaking coal operations in the Elk Valley. Fording River produces steelmaking coal – also called metallurgical coal or coking coal —which is used to make steel. Teck exports the processed coal by sea to the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere. This involves the shipment of the steelmaking coal from the mine site to bulk port terminals in Vancouver by rail. It is then loaded on to larger seagoing vessels, which carry it to target markets. The current annual production capacities of the mine and preparation plant are approximately 9.0 Mt and 9.5 Mt of clean coal, respectively. Proven and probable reserves at Fording River are projected to support mining at planned production rates for a further 43 years, so the 4800XPC has its work cut out.